Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witin  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


JittpV/www.archive.org/details/adventuresintJiulOOblgcricii 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THIILE. 


By  WILLIAM  BLACK. 

Author  of  "  Macleod  of  Dare,'"   "  The  Four  Macnicois^''  "  A  Princess  of 
TAuJe;'  «  T/iat  BemtifiU  WrOch;'  Etc, 


CHAPTER  L 

High  up  on  one  of  the  headlands  ot  the  island  of  Lewis, 
two  young  lads  were  idly  seated  on  the  grass,  sometimes  pluck- 
ing a  head  of  Dutch  clover,  sometimes  turning  their  eyes  to  a 
group  of  small  islands  which  lay  far  out  at  the  horizon  line, 
beyond  the  wide  blue  spaces  of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  a  warm, 
still,  beautiful  day.  The  sea  was  calm  :  those  low-lying  islands 
out  there  were  faint  and  pale  like  clouds. 

*'  Archie,"  said  the  elder  (speaking  in  Gaelic,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  translation),  "  I  saw  one  of  the  French  smacks 
go  by  this  morning." 

"  I  saw  her,  too,"  replied  the  younger  lad,  who  was  the 
schoolmaster's  son. 

There  was  nothing  said  for  a  time.  The  bees  hummed 
among  the  clover ;  the  collie  lying  near  sleepily  winked  his 
eyes ;  and  Colin  McCalmont,  the  taller  of  the  two  lads,  kept 
his  gaze  directed  on  the  pale  blue  islands  out  at  the  horizon. 
At  length  he  said : 


s  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

"  Archie,  my  father  is  a  hard-working  man  ;  and  it  is  not 
easy  now  to  make  the  farms  pay,  with  the  rents  high  and  sheep 
not  selling  well  at  the  market.  My  father  has  not  his  troubles 
to  seek,  as  the  minister  says.  And  to  think  that  these  French- 
men should  be  allowed  to  go  and  kill  a  sheep,  just  as  they 
want  it,  when  they  are  going  by  Farriskeir  or  Rua  ;  that  is 
what  angers  me." 

"  And  me,  too,"  said  Archie  Livingstone,  "  though  it  is  not 
my  father's  sheep  they  kill.  It  angers  me  because  they  are. 
Frenchmen  ;  yes,  and  thieves  besides.  But  what  can  you  do, 
Colin  ? " 

They  were  still  regarding  the  far  islands. 

"  If  my  father  would  let  me,"  McCalmont  said/*'  I'd  go  out 
and  live  on  Farriskeir  until  all  the  French  smacks  had  gone  by 
to  Iceland,  If  they  knew  any  one  was  on  Farriskeir  or  Rua, 
that  would  be  enough.  They  would  soon  talk  about  it  among 
themselves,  and  there  would  be  no  more  stealing  of  my  fa- 
ther's sheep.  Do  you  think  I  would  be  afraid  ?  I  would  not 
be  afraid.  I  would  build  myselt  a  hut,  for  there  is  plenty  of 
wood  washed  up  since  the  big  vessel  went  ashore  on  Rua." 

"  Colin,"  said  the  other,  after  awhile,  "  I  have  something 
to  tell  you.     Do  you  know  my  horse-pistol  ? " 

"  Of  course  I  know  it." 

"  Would  it  not  be  a  fine  thing,  now,  if  you  and  I  were  to  go 
out  to  Farriskeir  and  hide  behind  the  rocks,  and  when  the 
Frenchmen  were  coming  near  we  might  have  a  shot  at  them  ? " 

"  Yes,  and  maybe  kill  some  one,"  said  the  other,  scornfully. 
"That  would  be  a  fine  thing.  It  would  be  a  fine  thing  to  be 
hanged."  ^. 

"^How  could  they  hang  you  for  that  ?  "  said  the  schoolmas- 
ter's son.  "  If  a  man  comes  into  your  house  to  steal  your 
money,  you  may  shoot  at  him  ;  and  if  he  comes  to  your  island 
to  steal  your  sheep,  why  not  the  same  ?  Besides  he  is  a 
Frenchman.  The  sheriff  at  Stornoway  would  not  say  any- 
thing to  you  for  shooting  at  Frenchman." 

"  I  don't  know  that.  I  am  not  going  to  try,"  said  the  elder 
lad,  with  a  grim  sort  of  a  smile.  "  But  I  will  tell  you  now, 
Archie, what  would  be  a  fine  thing.  Do  you  think  we  could 
slip  away  to  Farriskeir  without  being  seen  ?  There  is  no  one 
going  down  to  the  boat  just  now  ;  they  would  not  miss  it  at 
all.  And  if  any  one  were  asking  for  us,  would  they  not  think 
we  had  gone  up  to  the  sheilling  with  bread  for  Mary  and  Ailasa 
<knd  the  rest  of  them  ? 

"  Well,  now,  if  we  could  slip  away  out  to  Farriskeir  and  lie 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  3 

behind  the  rocks,  just  as  you  were  saying,  and  if  one  of  the 
French  boats  was  to  come  near,  where  would  be  the  harm  in 
giving  a  shot  in  the  air  ?  Do  you  see  that  now  ?  Foi  they 
would  not  dare  to  land  ;  and  when  they  got  up  to  Reikiavik  in 
Iceland  they  would  tell  all  the  other  boats  that  they  had  been 
fired  at,  and  that  people  lived  on  Farriskeir  aud  Ruaveg  now ; 
and  not  another  Frenchman  would  ever  come  near  the  place 
again, 

"  Do  you  see  that  now  ?  They  would  sjo  away  up  to  Reik- 
iavik and  they  would  say,  'There  is  to  be  no  more  stealing  a 
sheep  from  Farriskeir  and  making  a  laugh  over  it.  They  have 
people  on  Farriskeir  now,'  And  the  Frenchmen  can  under- 
stand each  other  very  well,  though  no  one  else  can  make  out 
what  they  say." 

"  I  will  go  with  you,  Colin  ;  we  will  try  it !  "  said  the  other, 
eagerly.  *'  My  father  will  not  be  back  from  Stornoway  till  the 
Friday  night.  But  about  the  powder,  Colin  ;  I  have  no  pow- 
der, and  you  cannot  fire  the  horse-pistol  without  powder." 

However,  there  were  a  great  many  things  to  be  arranged 
besides  getting  powder  before  this  exploit  could  be  ventured 
upon ;  and  they  set  about  completing  these  details  according 
to  their  different  temperaments ;  the  younger  lad,  who  was  a 
great  reader  of  books,  hlied  with  an  eager  delight  at  the  ro- 
mance of  the  enterprise  ;  the  elder  animated  chiefly  by  a  sober 
determination  that  he  would  do  what  he  could  to  prevent  any 
more  of  his  father's  sheep  being  stolen.  Indeed,  it  was  not 
until  late  in  the  afternoon  that  Colin  McCalmont  found  time 
to  make  his  way  up  Glen-Estera,  to  Sir  Evan  Roy's  shooting- 
box  there,  that  he  might  beg  some  gunpowder  of  Dugald  Mc- 
Lean, the  game-keeper. 

He  found  McLean — who  was  the  sole  occupant  of  the  lodge 
at  this  timq  of  the  year — seated  on  the  bank  of  the  stream 
that  flowed  past  the  house.  He  was  contentedly  smoking  his 
pipe  and  regarding  a  noble  salmon  that  lay  on  the  grass,  while 
his  rod  was  not  far  off.  Colin  had  to  pull  his  wits  together  in 
addressing  the  keeper,  who  had  not  the  best  of  tempers. 

"  Eh,  but  that's  a  fine  fish,  Mr.  McLean  !  "  said  he ;  the  rest 
of  the  people  called  the  keeper  plain  Dugald,  so  this  was  a 
cunning  compliment.  "  That  is  a  fine  fish,  indeed.  I  have 
heard  them  saying  there  was  not  a  better  salmon-fisher  in  the 
Lewis  than  yourself.  They  were  saying  you  could  throw  a  fly 
two-and-forty  yards.  Some  day  I  will  be  asking  you  to  teach 
me  how  to  throw  a  fly." 

"  You  will   be  better  minding  your  own  business  at  the 


4  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

farm."  said  the  keeper,  rather  gruffly  (and  also  speaking  in 
Gaelic).     "  What  brings  you  to  Glen-Estera  > " 

"  There  is  not  much  doing  at  the  farm  at  this  time  of  the 
year.  I  was  thinking,  Mr.  McLean,  that  perhaps  you  could 
spare  me  a  little  gunpowder." 

"  Gunpowder !  "  the  keeper  exclaimed,  angrily.  "  To  make 
pioyes  of  and  set  your  father's  barn  on  fire  ?  It  is  a  fool  that 
you  are,  Colin,  and  more,  to  think  that  I  will  be  giving  you  any 
gunpowder ! " 

The  ^oxA  pioyssA^  applied  in  Scotland  to  a  small  cone  made 
of  gunpowder  kneaded  with  water  until  the  powder  forms  a 
sort  of  paste.  When  the  tip  of  the  cone  is  lit  it  begins  to 
sputter  and  hiss  like  a  miniature  Vesuvius. 

"  Indeed,  it's  you  who  are  wrong  then,  Mr.  McLean,  to 
think  I  was  wanting  gunpowder  iox  pioyes  "  said  Colin,  stur- 
dily. "  I  am  no  longer  at  school ;  it  is  not  pioyes  that  I  am 
thinking  of."  And  then  he  cast  about  for  an  excuse.  "  I  am 
sure  there  is  no  one  who  knows  better  than  yourself  of  the 
mischief  that  the  hoodies  make."  Hoodies  are  a  species  of 
crow  held  in  much  disfavor  by  the  preservers  of  game  in  the 
Highlands. 

"  Oh,"  continued  the  boy,  "they  are  the  mischievous  birds  ! 
The  young  grouse — the  young  black  game — have  no  peace  for 
them ;  but  worse  than  that  is  the  time  of  the  eggs  in  the 
springtime.  Surely  you  will  know,  Mr.  McLean,  that  when  a 
young  lad  is  looking  after  the  sheep,  he  has  many  chances  of 
seeing  the  nests," 

And  here  it  seemed  suddenly  to  strike  the  keeper  that  he 
was  neglecting  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  his  busines:^ — - 
which  was  to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  the  men  and  lads 
about  the  different  farms. 

"  Now  that  is  a  good  thing  I  am  told  about  you,  Colin,  my 
lad,"  said  he,  in  quite  a  different  tone  ;  "  that  you  do  not  take 
the  eggs  for  foolishness  or  mischief,  and  that  you  do  not  let 
the  dogs  chase  the  young  coveys  or  the  hares  ;  and  that  you 
are  a  sensible  lad,  and  you  may  have  a  farm  yourself  some 
day  from  Sir  Evan." 

"  It  is  not  wrong  what  you  have  heard  about  the  nests,"  said 
Colin,  modestly.  "  And  I  keep  in  the  dogs,  too,  though  the 
young  dogs  are  eager  after  the  hares.  And  I  was  saying  about 
the  hoodies  ;  Archie  Livingston  has  a  pistol,  and  if  you  were 
to  be  giving  me  a  little  gunpowder  from  time  to  time,  I  think 
I  could  kill  a  hoodie  or  two  when  there  was  nothing  doing 
but  the  minding  of  the  sheep." 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  5 

The  keeper  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  There  is  a  job  for  you,  Colin,  my  lad.  Bring  the  fish 
into  the  house,  and  I  will  give  you  some  powder." 

Very  joyously  did  Colin  obey ;  for,  besides  his  immediate 
want  being  supplied,  he  had  now  before  him  the  prospect  of 
unlimited  stalking  expeditions — along  the  shore  and  up  over 
the  rocks  after  the  detested  hoodie-crows.  And  if  he  did 
not  tell  Dugald  McLean  for  what  immediate  purpose  he 
wanted  some  powder,  it  was  because  he  knew  very  well  that 
McLean  would  instantly  speak  of  the  matter  and  compel 
him  to  abandon  so  dangerous  an  enterprise. 

They  went  into  the  lodge,  and  the  keeper,  who  was  now 
quite  friendly  in  his  gruff  way,  gave  him  some  powder  in  a 
small  tin  canister,  and  even  offered  him  some  percussion  caps 
too ;  but  McCalmont  explained  that  the  horse-pistol  was 
fired  by  flint  and  steel.  Then  he  set  out  on  his  way  down 
Glen-Estera  again. 

When  he  got  back  to  the  coast  and  near  to  the  headland 
which  had  been  mentioned,  instead  of  ascending  the  height, 
he  went  down  and  struck  across  some  broad  white  sands 
which  in  former  times  were  no  doubt  covered  by  the  sea. 

Then  he  reached  a  belt  of  rock  facing  the  Atlantic,  and  in 
a  small  sheltered  creek  discovered  Archie  Livingston  busy  at 
work  overhauling  the  small  sailing-boat  that  lay  at  its  moor- 
ings there.  Archie  looked  up  startled,  for  he  had  not  heard 
his  friend's  approach — the  sands  being  soft  to  the  foot. 

"  They  are  often  saying  that  Dugald  McLean  is  an 
uncivil  man,"  Colin  McCalmont  remarked,  as  he  stepped 
into  the  boat  that  his  companion  had  now  shoved  alongside 
the  rock,  "  but  he  is  not  that.  He  has  given  me  a  good  deal 
of  powder,  and  I  am  to  have  more,  too,  for  shooting  the 
hoodies  ;  and  1  think  you  and  I,  Archie,  will  have  many  a 
good  day  after  the  hoodies.  They  do  not  fly  so  quick  as  the 
birds  the  gentlemen  go  after ;  but  they  are  a  great  deal 
more  cunning,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  get  at  them.  He  is  not 
an  uncivil  man  at  all,  but  a  very  civil  man  ;  and  he  knows 
that  we  do  not  let  the  dogs  chase  the  young  birds.  Did  you 
bring  down  the  bottle  of  water,  Archie  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  brought  down  the  bottle  of  water,  and  it's  in 
the  locker.  And  I  have  gone  all  over  the  boat,  Colin,  and 
tried  the  sheets  ;  and,  if  I  were  you,  it's  a  new  topping-lift  I 
would  be  having." 

But  Colin  did  not  seem  quite  reassured  by  the  fact  that  his 
younger  companion  had   inspected  the  vessel  that   was  to 


6  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

carry  them  away  from  the  land  in  the  morning ;  so  now,  in 
the  gathering  dusk,  he  set  to  work  himself  and  had  a  thorough 
investigation. 

"  The  topping-lift  will  do  very  well,"  said  he,  "  for  it  is  not 
in  any  gale  that  we  are  going.  With  a  north  wind  or  a  south 
wind  I  will  go,  with  an  east  wind  or  west  wind  I  will 
not  go.  If  we  were  to  be  beating  against  a  wind 
either  going  or  coming,  would  not  some  one  see  us  sooner  or 
later?  And  you  know  very  well,  Archie,  that  it  is  not  a  sure 
thing  that  we  may  see  any  French  smack  come  near,  though 
now  is  the  time  of  their  passing;  and  that  would* be  a  fme 
thing  to  have  all  the  people  making  a  joke  of  us,  and  saying  : 

"  '  Look  at  the  boys  that  went  out  to  frighten  the  French- 
men and  came  running  back  without  seeing  any.' 

"  I  would  not  like  that,  neither  would  you ;  but  it  is  I  that 
would  have  to  do  the  quarrelling,  if  there  was  any  quarrel- 
ling. But  now,  if  there  is  a  nice  steady  wind  from  either 
north  or  south  in  the  morning,  then  we  will  run  away  out  in 
a  short  time  and  get  the  boat  hidden  in  a  creek  at  Farriskeir ; 
and  the  topping-lift  will  do  very  well,"  and  with  that  he  gave 
another  haul  at  it,  swinging  the  end  of  the  boom  up  into  the 
air. 

Now  when  everything  had  been  made  fast  and  secure  for 
their  voyage  on  the  morrow — the  main-sail  having  been 
lowered  and  stowed — Archie  was  called  upon  to  produce 
the  weapon  which  was  to  give  a  wholesome  warning  to  the 
French  fishermen  to  avoid  the  shores  of  Farriskeir  and  its 
adjacent  islands. 

It  was  a  large  cavalry  pistol,  somewhat  dilapidated,  but 
showing  traces  of  ancient  adornment.  Archie  had  freshly 
oiled  and  polished  it ,  he  had  put  a  newly-clipped  flint  in  the 
hammer,  and  when  his  companion  struck  the  flint  on  the 
empty  pan  (the  sparks  shone  with  a  sudden  brilliancy  in  the 
gathering  dusk)  the  lock  worked  easily. 

"  I  would  try  a  little  powder  in  it,  Colin,"  suggested  the 
younger  lad. 

"  The  night  is  so  still  they  would  hear  it  up  at  Dunvorgan," 
*»aid  the  elder  lad,  who  was  the  more  prudent  of  the  two. 

"  It  will  be  giving  no  sound  at  all,  Colin,  if  there  is  no 
wadding  in  the  barrel.  You  will  put  a  little  powder  in  the 
barrel  and  a  little  powder  in  the  pan,  and  then  you  will  see  if 
the  little  hole  is  all  clear." 

Well,  there  could  be  no  objection  to  that,  and  so  Colin 
produced  his  precious   canister,  and  very  grudgingly  meas 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  7 

ured  out  a  few  grains  for  the  exiDeriment.  The  result  was 
quite  satisfactory.  There  was  the  sharp  cUck  of  the  descend- 
ing flint,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  a  flash  of  red  flame 
in  the  darkness. 

So  the  pistol  was  carefully  wrapped  up  in  the  old  stocking 
that  was  its  customary  case,  and  deposited  in  the  locker 
along  with  the  bottle  of  water  and  the  oatmeal  cakes  which 
were  their  store  for  the  forthcoming  voyage. 

Then  the  two  lads  got  ashore  again,  and  in  the  dusk  made 
their  way  across  the  M'hite  sands  and  away  up  toward  Dun- 
vorgan  farm.     For  a  time  they  were  silent. 

"I  have  been  thinking,  Archie,"  said  the  elder  of  the 
two  at  last,  "  that  it  would  not  be  a  nice  thing  if  the  crew  of 
the  smack  were  to  land  and  hunt  us  out.  What  would  we  do 
then  ? " 

The  other  made  no  reply. 

"  There  would  be  five  or  six  of  them,  Archie,  and  if  they 
were  to  land  they  would  catch  us,  even  if  we  were  to  go  into 
the  cave  at  the  point  opposite  Rua.  And  if  they  were  to 
catch  us,  Archie,  it  is  not  you  and  1  that  would  be  able  to 
fight  six  of  them." 

And  again,  "  I  was  thinking,  Archie,  that  it  would  be 
better  if  I  was  to  go  by  myself.  It  is  not  right  that  you 
should  go  into  a  risk  for  the  sake  of  my  father's  sheep ;  that 
is  foolishness ;  I  can  manage  the  boat  very  well  by  myself." 

"  Then  you  can  give  me  back  my  pistol,"  said  the  other, 
who  was  evidently  deeply  hurt.  "  If  you  think  I  am  afraid, 
you  can  give  me  back  my  pistol." 

"  I  did  not  say  you  were  afraid.  I  said  there  was  a  reason 
for  my  going,  and  there  was  no  reason  for  your  going.  If 
there  was  to  be  a  fight,  what  would  you  do  ? " 

"  What  would  you  ?  Do  you  think  I  am  more  afraid 
of  the  French  fishermen  than  you  ?  Very  well,  then,  I  will 
take  back  my  pistol." 

Colin  very  soon  perceived  that  his  companion  was  bent  on 
sharing  this  enterprise,  whatever  peril  it  might  involve,  and  at 
last  a  compromise  was  affected  ;  Archie  Livingston  agreeing 
that,  in  the  event  of  the  French  fishermen  venturing  to  land 
to  discover  who  had  fired  at  them,  he  should  be  the  first  to 
make  for  the  little  natural  cave  in  the  rocks  that  both  the  lads 
knew  well,  and  that  Colin  should  be  allowed  to  look  about  a 
little  and  see  what  was  likely  to  happen  before  seeking  the 
same  place  of  refuge. 

It   may  be  presumed  that  neither  of  the  lads  slept  very 


8  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

much  that  night ;  for,  besides  the  excitement  of  the  enter- 
prise, they  had  agreed  to  meet  down  at  the  Httle  creek  not 
later  than  half-past  four  in  the  morning.'  And,  as  each  went 
stealthily  his  own  way  to  the  place  of  rendezvous,  a  fair,  still 
dawn  was  breaking  over  land  and  sea,  and  everything  gave 
promise  of  a  beautiful  day.  Moreover,  the  slight  cool 
breeze  of  the  morning  was  blowing  up  from  the  south ;  it  was 
a  fair  wind  to  carry  them  out  to  the  islands,  where  they  were, 
to  lie  in  wait  for  the  Frenchmen. 


CHAPTER  11. 


The  setting  forth  of  the  two  lads  on  their  voyage  to  the 
far  islands  on  the  horizon  was  managed  with  all  due  secrecy 
and  despatch,  for  both  of  them  were  well  aware  that,  if  the 
people  at  the  farm  got  to  know  on  what  mission  they  were 
bent,  they  would  immediately  be  stopped.  But  once  away 
from  the  shore  they  grew  more  confident ;  and  they  could 
call  to  each  other  freely — Archie  Livingston  having  been  sent 
to  the  bow  as  a  sort  of  lookout. 

"  Archie,"  called  out  the  elder  lad,  who  was  at  the  stem, 
with  the  sheet  of  the  mainsail  in  his  hand  and  his  elbow  on 
the  tiller,  "  they  cannot  stop  us  now." 

"That  they  cannot,  Colin." 

"  And  do  you  think  that  Ailasa  and  Mary  and  the  rest  of 
them  up  at  the  sheilling  will  be  awake  and  out  yet .''  " 

"  No  doubt  they  will  be  awake  and  out,"  said  the  younger 
lad — both  of  them  speaking  in  Gaelic. 

"  For,  if  any  one  is  to  see  us  they  will  be  the  first  to  see  us, 
from  the  hillside.  Yes,  and  maybe  they  are  saying  now, 
*  There  is  the  boat  going  out ;  and  who  can  be  in  the  boat  ? 
and  what  does  any  one  want  to  go  to  Farriskeir  for? '  Well, 
they  will  not  be  guessing  that  easily." 

"  Colin,"  said  the  younger  lad,  "  it  will  be  a  hard  thing  if  we 
have  taken  all  this  trouble  and  find  none  of  the  French  fisher- 
men coming  near.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  that  the  French 
ships  were  always  running  away  when  they  were  told  that 
Nelson  was  coming  after  them :  and  that  it  was  not  easy  for 
him  to  fight  them  because  he  could  not  tpU  where  they  were  ? 
Well,  they  are  not  running  away  from  us  ;  but  it  will  be  just 
as  bad  if  we  do  not  find   anv  of    the   smncks  comins:  near 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  9 

Farriskeir  or  Ruaveg.  And  then  what  will  you  say  when  you 
go  back  ?  " 

"You  are  afraid  of  being  laughed  at,"  said  the  elder  lad, 
"  that  is  what  I  am  thinking.  You  are  afraid  they  will  say, 
'  There  are  the  boys  who  went  out  to  frighten  the  Frenchmen 
and  could  not  find  them.'  But  answer  me  this,  Archie  ;  if  we 
do  not  tell  them  why  we  went  out,  how  will  they  know  ?  " 

"  If  they  have  seen  us  from  the  sheilling,  Ailasa,  or  Red- 
haired  Maggie,  or  one  of  them  will  be  asking,"  said  the  other, 
diffidently. 

"  Yes,  they  will  be  asking ;  it  is  the  way  of  girls.  But  that 
is  no  need  why  we  should  tell.  And  this  is  what  I  am 
thinking  of,  Archie  :  if  there  is  not  any  French  smack  coming 
near  the  islands,  well,  we  will  go  back  to  the  wreck,  and  there 
are  many  things  that  we  can  pick  up  ;  and  why  should  we  not 
bring  away  a  boatful  of  the  spars  and  planks  that  my  father 
drew  above  the  water-mark  at  Rua .'' 

"  It  is  very  useful  these  things  are  at  the  farm  ;  and  the 
last  time  we  were  out,  we  had  not  an  inch  of  spare  room  in 
the  boat  when  we  were  coming  back,  such  a  load  we  had ;  and 
if  the  girls  at  the  sheilling  hear  that  we  have  brought  back  a 
cargo  of  wood  from  Ruaveg,  what  then  ?  Where  will  be  their 
questions  then  ?  " 

They  were  now  well  away  from  the  land ;  and  so  steady 
was  this  light  breeze  from  the  south  that  the  navigation  of  the 
boat  involved  no  great  care.  The  helmsman  could  with 
sufficient  security  turn  from  time  to  time  to  regard  the  familiar 
landmarks  they  were  leaving  behind — the  wide  white  sands, 
the  masses  of  rock,  and  far  beyond  and  above  these  the 
giant  peaks  of  Mealasabhal  and  Suainabhal,  all  faintly  colored 
by  the  morning  sun. 

Or  again,  he  would  stand  up  in  the  boat  to  get  a  better 
look  at  the  islands  ahead ;  and  these,  as  the  distance  gradually 
grew  less,  were  beginning  to  show  distinctive  features  along 
their  shores. 

But  of  any  French  smack  or  other  vessel  they  could  find  no 
sign  whatever.  As  far  as  their  eyes  could  reach,  this  wide 
circle  of  the  blue  Atlantic  seemed  to  belong  to  themselves. 
Once,  indeed,  they  caught  sight  of  the  topsails  of  a  brigantine, 
the  rest  of  the  vessel  being  below  the  horizon ;  but  apparently 
she  was  beating  down  against  the  southerly  breeze,  and, 
having  put  about,  was  soon  lost  to  view. 

"  It  will  be  no  harm  if  we  get  out  to  the  islands  without 
any  one  seeing  us,"  said  Colin  McCalmont.     ''  It  vnll  be  a 


10  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

great  deal  better.  For  if  one  of  the  smacks  was  to  see  us 
going  out,  and  if  another  smack  was  to  take  the  word  to 
Reikiavik  that  there  were  people  now  on  Farriskeir,  and  that 
they  had  guns,  then  there  would  be  a  great  laughing,  and  some 
of  them  would  be  for  saying,  '  Why,  are  you  frightened  ?  It  is 
no  one  but  two  boys  who  are  on  Farriskeir ;  for  we  saw  them 
going  out.  And  are  you  frightened  because  you  heard  the 
boys  shooting  at  the  curlews  ? " 

"  That  is  true  what  you  say,  Colin ;  and  anyway  we  will 
take  back  a  load  of  wood  with  us,"  said  the  younger  lad,  who 
was  very  clearly  anxious  that  the  girls  at  the  sheiiling  should 
have  no  cause  to  jeer  at  them. 

And  now  the  islands  grew  more  and  more  distinct ;  and,  as 
they  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  the  lads  could  see  and  hear  that 
their  appearance  was  causing  a  vast  commotion  among  the 
innumerable  wild-fowl  that  filled  the  air  with  their  cries.  The 
curlews  uttered  their  warning  whistle  as  they  wheeled  high  in 
the  air ;  the  sea-pyots  whirred  along  close  to  the  water ;  the 
terns  came  flying  overhead,  screaming  angrily  as  they  dipped 
and  rose  again.  And  what  was  that  great  shapeless  black 
thing,  that  lay  on  a  spur  of  rock  not  nearly  as  large  as  itself  ? 

"  Colin,"  the  younger  lad  cried,  "  look  at  that  now !  The 
wreck  is  not  all  gone  away  yet ;  and  they  were  saying  she 
would  go  to  pieces  before  two  days  or  three  days  were  over, 
and  not  an  inch  would  be  left  of  her." 

"  There  is  not  more  than  a  third  of  her  left  now,"  Colin 
McCalmont  said  ;  "and  it  is  nothing  but  a  lump  of  old  iron 
she  is.  But  we  will  go  round  the  point  of  Rua  and'  look  at 
her.  Slack  the  lee  jib-sheet  a  bit,  Archie;  maybe  we  will  get 
something  out  of  her  that  may  be  of  use  at  the  farm." 

"  I  would  not  go  too  near,  Colin,"  said  the  younger  of  the 
two,  "for  she  might  tumble  over  on  us." 

"  Tumble  over  on  us  !  "  said  the  other,  with  a  laugh  of  deri- 
sion.    "  When  she  has  stood  out  two  gales  ! " 

But  indeed  when  they  rounded  the  point  of  one  of  the  small 
islands  and  drew  nearer  to  this  great  broken  mass  of  iron 
perched  high  on  a  narrow  ledge  of  rock,  it  was  a  gruesome 
sight,  and  they  approached  with  caution.  For  one  thing,  they 
had  lowered  their  mainsail,  and  had  taken  to  the  oars,  back- 
ing the  stern  of  the  boat  towards  the  wreck  (which  towered 
high  above  them),  so  that  they  could  see  how  near  they  could 
go  in  safety. 

Huge  as  this  rent  and  shattered  fragment  of  a  vessel  seemed, 
the  steamer  had  been  of  no  great  size  ;  but  when,  on  a  pitch- 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  l^HULE.  ii 

dark  night,  and  the  captain  having  made  some  mistake  about 
the  lights  along  the  coast,  her  stem  was  suddenly  jammed  on 
to  this  rock,  her  impetus  was  great  enough  to  lift  her  up  the 
shelving  ledge,  so  that  at  low-water  her  keel  forward  was  high 
and  dry.  But  her  back  was  broken  ;  and  the  first  heavy  sea 
that  came  rolling  in  from  the  west  knocked  her  boilers  out  and 
tore  down  her  stern  into  deep  water,  leaving  nothing  stand- 
ing but  the  bow,  which  now  presented  an  extraordinary 
appearance. 

Outside  the  hull  was  black ;  but  inside  everything  was  red 
with  rust ;  and  as  the  two  lads  backed  their  boat  until  this 
riven  mass  of  confusion  seemed  almost  over  their  heads,  there 
was  something  awful  in  the  evidence  everywhere  around  of 
the  tremendous  force  of  the  sea. 

The  twisted  girders,  the  thick  iron  plates,  torn  from  their 
rivets  and  bent  about  as  if  they  had  been  made  of  pasteboard, 
the  iron  cables  snapped  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  watch- 
chains — all  this  spoke  of  a  frightful  combat ;  and  seemed  so 
strange,  now,  with  this  placid  blue  sea  ail  around,  and  all 
around,  too,  a  silence  broken  only  by  the  distant  calling  of 
the  curlews. 

The  two  lads  regarded  this  picture  of  ruin  and  desolation 
without  uttering  a  word,  apparently  overawed  by  it ;  but  at 
last  Colin  McCalmot  said, 

"  Archie,  do  you  not  think  I  could  climb  up  inside  of  her  ? 
there  might  be  something  that  one  could  find." 

"  Indeed  you  will  get  nothing  but  cut  fingers  with  the 
broken  iron,"  said  Archie  Livingston,  with  decision.  "  Did 
they  not  take  everything  out  of  her  ?  And  vhat  would  you 
say  now  if  one  of  the  plates  of  iron  weie  to  fall  on  you  ? '' 

The  elder  lad  was  still  looking  up,  however,  at  the  shattered 
remnant  of  the  vessel. 

"  Archie,  back  her  a  bit  more  ;  and  I  will  see  if  I  can  get 
up  to  the  lower  deck  there." 

The  younger  boy  did  as  he  was  bid,  though  rather  reluc- 
tantly ;  and  it  was  with  a  trifle  of  dismay  that  he  beheld  his 
companion  clamber  on  to  the  wreck  and  begin  to  work  his 
way  up  among  the  rusty  iron.  Then  he  saw  him  reach  what 
remained  of  the  lower  deck,  where  there  was  still  some  wood- 
work ;  and  after  searching  about  for  a  while  he  picked  up 
something. 

"  Look  here,  Archie,"  he  called  out  (his  voice  sounding  hol- 
low in  the  shell  of  the   wreck).  I  have  found  a  pair  of  deer's 


13  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

horns.  Take  care,  now,  and  I  will  throw  them  down  to 
you." 

The  next  moment  the  horns  fell  on  the  lowered  mainsail 
and  rebounded  into  the  bottom  of  the  boat. 

"  What  is  the  use  of  them  ?  "  the  younger  lad  cried — ^for  he 
did  not  like  the  look  of  his  companion  clambering  about  up 
there.  "  If  you  want  deer's  horns,  you  will  find  them  along 
the  shore.  It  was  part  of  her  cargo.  What  is  the  use  of 
deer's  horns  1  " 

However,  something  now  happened  that  brought  back 
Colin  McCalmont  speedily  enough  into  the  boat,  without  any 
further  remonstrance.  In  crossing  over  to  the  other  side  of 
this  lower  deck  he  found  a  place  where  he  could  look  out  to 
sea ;  and  of  course  at  this  height  his  view  was  far  more 
extensive  than  that  obtainable  from  the  little  sailing-boat  be- 
low. 

"  I  can  see  a  big  steamer  away  out  tliere,"  he  called,  looking 
toward  the  west.  "  Where  can  she  be  going  now  t  There  is 
no  steamer  of  that  size  will  be  going  to  Iceland." 

The  next  minute,  as  he  turned  to  the  southern  horizon, 
something  caught  his  eye  which  provoked  no  exclamation,  but 
which  caused  him  to  hurry  down  from  the  wreck  in  half  the 
time  it  had  taken  him  to  climb  up. 

"  Archie,"  said  he,  in  an  excited  whisper — although  the 
boat  he  had  seen  was  still  miles  off — "  do  you  know  this  , 
There  is  a  French  smack  coming  up.  I  am  sure  of  it — I  know 
it — there  is  no  other  vessel  that  would  be  coming  so  near  the 
land. 

"  Be  quick,  now,  Archie  ;  we  will  row  round  to  Farriskeir  \ 
I  will  not  put  the  sail  on  her  at  all ;  we  will  row  through  the 
channel  between  Farriskeir  and  Rua,  and  maybe  we  will  have 
her  in  the  little  harbor  before  they  can  see  us.  Do  you  under- 
stand that  now  ?  " 

Archie  Livingston  took  his  oar  quickly  enough ;  though, 
to  tell  the  truth  he  was  somewhat  alarmed.  The  adventure 
had  been  so  far  pleasant  and  romantic  in  its  way ;  but  it  as- 
sumed a  new  aspect  when  he  definitely  knew  that  a  crew  of 
French  fishermen  were  coming  along,  and  probable  danger 
at  hand.  He  did  not  speak  at  all ;  and  both  knew  equally 
well  the  course  they  had  to  make.  They  rowed  away  from 
the  wreck,  then  along  a  narrow  and  tortuous  channel  be- 
tween two  islands  ;  then  they  beheld  before  them  the  open  sea 
again. 


/iN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  13 


CHAPTER   III. 

"  Do  you  see  her  ?  "  said  Colin  McCalmont,  in  the  same 
low  voice,  as  if  the  Frenchmen  could  hear  at  that  distance. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  as  the  younger  lad  descried  the 
small  dot  of  a  vessel  away  down  there  in  the  south. 

"  Do  you  not  think  that  is  one  of  the  smacks  ?  " 

"  That  is  what  I  think."  Then  he  added  :  "  Colin,  if  they 
go  by  peaceably,  and  do  not  try  to  kill  one  of  your  father's 
sheep,  we  need  not  do  anything  ?  They  will  not  know  we  are 
here." 

"  What  did  I  come  out  for  ?  "  said  the  other  scornfully. 
"  What  did  I  come  out  for  but  to  let  every  one  of  them  know 
we  are  here  ?  I  want  it  talked  about  at  Reikiavik ;  that  is 
what  I  am  thinking  of.  I  do  not  wish  to  have  any  more  of 
my  father's  sheep  killed.  I  wish  them  to  take  the  story  to 
Reikiavik  that  there  are  people  on  Farriskeir  now,  and  that  if 
any  one  goes  near  to  Farriskeir  to  have  a  shot  at  the  sheep — ' 
well,  the  shooting  may  not  be  all  on  one  side.  It  is  not  for 
nothing  that  I  have  come  out  to  Farriskeir." 

They  rowed  round  the  southern  end  of  the  island,  and  then 
to  the  eastern  side  made  their  way  into  a  small,  naturally 
formed  harbor  which  was  protected  by  a  low  ridge  of  rock 
Over  this  rock  the  mast  of  the  boat  could  be  seen  easily 
enough ;  and  that  was  what  Colin  McCalmont  wanted.  Evey 
if  the  French  fishermen  did  not  approach  the  island,  they 
would  at  least  see  the  mast  of  the  boat  (provided  they  came 
that  side),  and  would  so  gather  that  Farriskeir  was  not  always 
to  be  a  happy  hunting-ground  for  them. 

They  got  the  anchor  ashore,  and  made  the  boat  fast ;  then 
they  had  their  own  movements  to  consider. 

"  Archie,"  said  the  elder,  "  if  you  are  afraid,  go  away  to  the 
cave  at  the  end  of  the  island ;  they  will  never  think  of  search- 
ing that." 

"  Whether  I  am  afraid  or  not  is  no  great  matter,"  said  the 
other ;  "  it  is  where  you  are  that  I  am  going  to  be." 

"  Oh,  very  well,  then ;  we  will  now  set  about  loading  the 
pistol." 

The  pistol  they  had  brought  ashore  with  them ;  likewise 
the  canister  of  powder,  some  wads,  and  a  small  paper  bag  full 
of  shot. 

"  Are  you  going  to  put  shot  into  it,  Colin  ?  "  said  the  younge* 


14  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

boy,  somewhat  timidly,  when  his  companion  had  filled  in  the 
powder  and  rammed  the  wad  home. 

"  Well,  now,  it  is  much  more  than  I  that  you  will  know  about 
this  pistol,  Archie ;  but  I  was  thinking  if  there  were  some 
shot  put  into  it,  it  would  make  the  greater  noise,  and  be  more 
like  a  gun.     What  do  you  say  to  that  now  ?  " 

"  But  you  will  not  fire  at  them  ?  " 

Colin  McCalmont  laughed  derisively — but  not  very  loudly. 

"  And  that  is  a  very  fine  thing  !  "  said  he.  "  Who  was  it 
that  wanted  at  the  very  beginning  to  have  a  shot  at  the 
Frenchmen  ?  Who  was  it  that  was  not  afraid  of  the  sheriff  at 
Stornoway  ?  " 

"  But  it  would  be  a  dreadful  thing  to  kill  a  man,  Colin." 

"  Now  that  is  the  truth  you  are  speaking,  like  the  old  man 
of  Ross.  The  old  man  of  Ross  never  said  anything  truer 
than  that.  And  it  is  not  that  I  want  to  be  taken  before  the 
sheriff  at  Stornoway.  No ;  I  am  putting  in  shot  to  make  a 
fine  good  noise  ;  but  afterwards  I  may  also  put  in  shot ;  do 
you  see  that  now  ?  This  time  it  is  to  make  a  noise,  and 
give  them  a  story  to  carry  to  Reikiavik ;  that  time  it  will 
be  if  they  want  to  land  and  chase  us.  And  then  every  one 
for  himself;  that  was  what  the  weasel  said  when  he  went 
home." 

"  Colin,"  said  the  younger  lad,  timidly,  "  when  we  were 
coming  near  the  island  I  saw  two  wild  swans  fly  away.  It 
is  not  a  good  sign  to  see  the  wild  swans  fly  away  from  the 
island." 

"  Your  head  is  full  of  nonsense,"  said  the  other  scorn- 
fully. 

"  They  say  the  wild  swans  are  princesses,"  continued  Archie 
Livingston,  not  heeding  the  taunt,  "  that  were  changed  by 
magic.  And  it  is  not  a  good  thing  to  see  them  fly  away  when 
you  come  near  the  land." 

"  It  is  many  and  many  a  wild  swan  I  have  seen — ^yes, 
thirty  of  them  together,  washing  themselves  and  flapping 
their  wings  in  Loch  an-Innis  ;  but  never  yet  one  that  would 
wait  till  you  could  put  salt  on  its  tail.  Archie,  my  lad,  your 
head  is  full  of  nonsense.  But  if  you  are  afraid  of  wild 
swans,  or  princesses,  or  anything  else,  then  there  is  the 
cave  for  you ;  and  you  can  leave  me  to  deal  with  the  frog- 
eaters.  This  is  what  I  am  afraid  of :  that  they  may  not 
come  near  enough — it  is  not  the  wild  swans  that  I  am  afraid 
of." 

"  And  if  I  am  afraid,  I  am   not  going  to  run  away,"  said 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  15 

his  companion.  "  That  is  the  one  tiling  I  am  not  going  to 
do.     Where  you  are,  Colin,  it  is  there  I  am  going  to  be." 

"  Very  well,  then,  we  will  go  and  get  a  good  hiding-place 
behind  the  rocks ;  and  you  will  be  very  quiet,  Archie,  so  that, 
if  they  think  about  landing  to  steal  a  sheep,  we  will  see  it 
very  plainly ;  and  then,  after  the  shot,  you  will  do  as  I  do — 
but  not  a  word  all  the  time." 

It  was  not  without  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  and  cautious 
experimenting  that  Colin  McCalmont  found  a  suitable  hiding- 
place  for  himself  and  his  companion.  But  at  last  he  discov- 
ered an  abrupt  little  hollow  behind  a  ledge  of  rock,  where, 
himself  unseen,  he  could  peep  over  and  watch  the  approach 
of  the  vessel  that  was  now  drawing  nearer  and  nearer ;  while, 
in  the  event  of  the  fishermen  landing  and  pursuing  them, 
they  could  from  this  point  slip  unperceived  up  to  the  northern 
end  of  the  island,  where  there  was  a  cave  not  likely  to  be  dis- 
covered. 

The  smaller  lad  lay  prone  on  the  rock,  motionless,  scarcely 
daring  to  breathe.  His  companion  from  time  to  time  cau- 
tiously peered  over  the  edge  ;  and  now  there  was  no  doubt  at 
all  that  the  vessel  was  one  of  the  French  fishing-smacks  bound 
for  Iceland. 

McCalmont  took  the  precaution  of  putting  a  few  grains  of 
fresh  powder  in  the  pan  of  the  pistol ;  then  they  waited — in  a 
profound  silence  broken  only  by  the  monotonous  plashing  of 
the  sea  along  the  rocks  and  the  shingle. 

Just  in  front  of  his  head,  as  he  lay  on  the  sloping  ledge  of 
rock,  McCalmont  had  placed  a  few  tufts  of  withered  heather, 
through  which  he  could  easily  see  what  was  going  on.  And 
when  the  French  vessel  came  along,  and  when  he  saw  them 
deliberately  put  her  head  up  to  the  wind,  the  lower  a  boat, 
and  put  two  men  in  the  boat,  who  calmly  began  to  row  to 
the  island,  his  face  grew  red  with  anger.  He  dared  not 
even  whisper  to  his  companion,  who  was  lying  mute  and 
motionless  beside  him  (and  very  much  afraid,  too,  though 
he  would  not  have  admitted  it),  and  he  was  saying  to  him- 
self : 

"  If  this  now  is  not  the  most  impudent  thing !  Oh,  yes  ! 
you  will  come  and  help  yourself  to  a  sheep — a  sheep  be- 
longing to  a  poor  man  who  has  to  work  hard  enough  for  his 
living ;  and  you  will  have  a  good  dinner  on  board ;  and  a 
good  laugh  when  you  go  to  Iceland.  It  would  take  little 
now  to  make  me  fire  at  you  and  your  boat — ^you  French 
thieves !  " 


i6  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE 

But  whether  or  no  it  was  the  fear  of  the  sheriff  at  Storno- 
way,  wiser  counsels  prevailed.  When  he  had  allowed  the 
boat  and  the  two  men  to  come  within  thirty  or  forty  yards  of 
the  island  he  took  up  the  big  horse-pistol  and  locked  the  ham- 
mer. Then,  holding  it  tight  (for  fear  of  the  recoil)  at  arm's- 
length  from  him,  he  pointed  the  pistol  along  the  gully  behind 
him,  and  pulled  the  trigger  ;  and  the  next  second  there  was  a 
sudden  crash  of  noise  in  the  silence,  and  a  puff  of  splintered 
rock  where  the  shot  had  struck. 

Archie  Livingston  looked  terrified ;  but  McCalmont,  hav- 
ing serious  work  on  hand,  turned  to  his  hiding-place  again, 
and  peeped  through  the  tufts  of  heather  to  see  what  effect 
this  shot  might  have  had. 

The  men  in  the  boat  were  very  obviously  surprised.  They 
had  stopped  rowing.  One  of  them,  indeed,  was  now  standing 
up,  closely  scanning  the  shore  ;  and  McCalmont  kept  himself 
closely  concealed,  for  he  knew  that  the  sriioke  from  the  gun- 
powder would  give  them  some  more  or  less  vague  indication 
of  his  whereabouts. 

What  would  they  do  ?  Would  they  go  back  to  the  fishing- 
smack,  merely  with  the  impression  that  now  there  were  people 
living  on  the  island  ?  Or  would  they  consider  that  they  had 
been  fired  at,  and  be  tempted  to  make  reprisals  t 

He  could  see  that  they  were  excitedly  talking  to  each  other ; 
and  one  of  them  pointed  to  the  little  creek  in  which  McCal- 
mont's  sailing-boat  lay ;  then  they  put  their  oars  into  the 
water  again,  and  continued  rowing  for  the  shore. 

"  They  are  going  to  land,  Archie  !  "  said  McCalmont,  in  a 
quick  whisper.  "  Come  along — sharp  !  We  will  make  for 
the  cave  ;  and  there  will  be  time  to  load  the  pistol  there. 
Quick !  quick,  now  !  and  keep  low  down." 

But  every  nook  and  gully  of  the  island  was  well  known  to 
both  of  them  ;  and  they  easily  made  their  way  to  the  north 
end  of  the  island  without  showing  themselves  on  any  of  the 
little  grassy  plateaus  or  of  the  higher  rocks.  Fortunately, 
too,  for  them,  their  appearance  earlier  in  the  day  had  fright- 
ened the  half-wild  sheep  over  to  the  western  side  of  the  island, 
so  that  there  was  no  scurrying  of  the  startled  animals  to  show 
their  track. 

They  reached  the  coast  line  again  ;  made  their  way  along 
some  rocks ;  and  then,  slipping  down  cautiously,  entered  a 
small  cave  that  just  allowed  them  to  stand  upright.  The  floor 
was  of  sand  and  shells  washed  in  by  the  high  tides ;  a  few 
tufts  of  sea-asplenium  showed  their  dark-green  fronds  in  the 


AN  AD  VENTURE  IN  THUL  E.  1 7 

shelves  and  crannies  :  otherwise  the  cave  was  pretty  much  of 
a  bare  black  hole,  with  a  curious  damp  odor  of  sea-weed  in  it. 

"  Now,  Archie,  the  powder — quick  !  " — ^for  the  younger  lad 
had  charge  of  the  ammunifion. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Archie's  fingers  were  trembling 
somewhat,  as  he  produced  the  tin  canister ;  but  his  companion 
did  not  notice  that — he  was  too  anxious  to  have  the  pistol 
loaded.  And  when  that  was  completed  he  seemed  to  breathe 
more  freely. 

"  Now  do  you  see  this,  Archie,"  said  he  cheerfully,  "  that 
we  have  the  best  of  the  position  ?  For  if  they  come  after  us 
and  find  out  the  cave,  we  are  in  the  dark,  and  they  cannot 
make  us  out,  but  they  are  in  the  light,  and  we  will  see  ever}^- 
thing  they  mean  to  do.  And  there  are  only  two  of  them  ; 
and  what  I  am  determined  on  is  this — if  they  try  to  do  any 
harm  to  us,  I  will  put  a  shot  on  to  them,  whether  there  is  a 
sheriff  in  Stornoway  or  no. 

"  It  is  no  use  speaking  to  them,  for  they  do  not  understand 
any  language  but  their  own.  And  if  they  point  a  gun  at  you 
or  me,  it  is  I  that  will  be  firing  first,  or  you  may  be  calling 
me  a  splay-footed  *  fellow.  But  as  for  you,  Archie,  if  they 
find  out  the  cave,  you  will  go  right  to  the  back  of  the  cave, 
and  you  will  lie  down,  with  your  face  to  the  ground,  and  they 
will  not  see  you  at  all.  For  it  is  better  to  be  safe  without 
fighting  than  to  be  safe  after  fighting,  as  the  old  man  of  Ross 
said." 

They  waited  and  waited,  and  there  was  not  a  sound  outside. 

"  I  wonder  now,"  the  elder  lad  said  at  length,  "whether 
they  thought  I  was  firing  the  shot  at  them  ?  Perhaps  they 
did  not  come  ashore  at  all.  That  will  be  much  better ;  if 
they  have  gone  back  to  the  others,  and  told  them  that  the 
time  is  past  now  for  having  a  sheep  off  Farriskeir." 

"  I  am  sure  I  hope  they  have  gone  away'  Colin,"  said  the 
younger  of  the  boys,  who  had  not  spoken  since  they  entered 
the  cave. 

He  had  been  Ifstening  for  sounds  without ;  not  quite  certain 
whether,  in  the  event  of  pursuit,  he  should  take  his  com- 
panion's advice  and  hide,  or  whether  he  ought  not  to  lend 
what  help  he  could. 

Suddenly  something  occurred  that  made  both  the  lads  start. 
They  found  two  eyes  glaring  into  the  cave — two  large,  soft, 

*Guagaire  was  the  word  he  used,  but,  besides  meaning  "  splay-footed,"  it  is  also 
used  to  denote  one  who  is  idle  or  giddy  or  frivolous. 
2 


l8  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

Staring  eyes,  that  belonged  to  a  bushy,  flat-shaped  head  ;  and 
then  the  next  moment,  before  they  had  time  to  recover  from 
their  fright,  the  strange  creature  had  turned  and  made  off  as 
quickly  as  its  webbed  feet  and  long  tail  would  allow. 

"  I  never  saw  an  otter  on  the  land  before,"  said  Colin 
McCalmont,  who  was  the  first  to  recover  his  presence  of 
mind. 

''He  must  have  come  up  through  the  sea-weed  there.  If  it 
was  not  for  the  Frenchmen,  maybe  I  could  catch  him  yet ; 
for  they  go  so  very  slow  on  the  land." 

"  Colin  do  not  go  out  of  the  cave,"  the  other  entreated. 
"  As  for  an  otter,  what  is  an  otter  ?  You  can  trap  one  at 
Camus  Head,  if  you  want  one.  And  as  for  that  one,  he  is 
down  through  the  sea-weed  and  into  the  sea  long  ago.  He 
will  be  as  far  away  as  Ruaveg  by  this  time." 

Nevertheless,  with  the  natural  curiosity  of  a  young  lad, 
Colin  must  needs  go  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  peer 
cautiously  around.  'I'here  was  no  sign  of  any  otter;  and 
there  was  neither  sign  nor  sound  of  the  French  fishermen. 
But  the  next  second  something  else  caught  his  eye. 

"  Archie,  come  here  !"  he  called  out.  "  Come  here  now  ! 
See,  the  smack  is  away  to  the  north.  I  know  that  is  the  same 
one  from  the  red  patch  on  her  mainsail.  They  have  gone 
away  now,  Archie." 

"And  a  good  thing,  too,"  said  the  younger  lad,  coming  out 
to  the  light  and  the  warmer  air.  "  Yes,  that  is  the  smack, 
Colin  I  believe.  And  now  they  will  take  the  story  to  Reik- 
iavik." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  companion,  with  something  of  triumph  in 
his  face  and  tone.  "  That  is  true.  And  there  will  be  no 
more  stealing  of  the  sheep  now.  And  what  we  have  to  do 
now  is  to  put  some  of  the  timber  and  the  spars  into  the  boat, 
and  get  away  back  to  the  mainland. 

'•  And  you  will  not  be  afraid  of  the  questions  any  more, 
Archie,  if  the  girls  at  the  sheilling  will  be  asking  you  why  you 
went  to  Farriskeir.  For  did  we  not  prevent  the  Frenchmen 
landing  .^  And  we  saved  one,  or  maybe  more,  of  my  father's 
sheep ;  and  the  warning  to  the  frog-eaters  will  be  a  good 
thing  besides.  There  is  only  one  thing  now  that  I  am  sorry 
for." 

"  And  what  is  that,  Colin  ?" 

"  That  I  did  not  have  a  shot  at  the  otter." 

"That  I  am  not  sorry  for,"  said  his  friend  (who  had 
f egained  all   his   modest   confidence  and   cheerfulness)  ;  "  it 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULk. 


19 


was  a  more  important  thing  than  an  otter  that  we  came  for ; 
and  never  before  did  I  hear  my  pistol  make  such  a  noise." 

"  I  thought  my  arm  was  off,"  said  Colin,  with  a  laugh. 

They  had  by  this  time  got  back  to  the  gully  behind  the 
ledge  of  rock  which  they  had  chosen  for  their  hiding-place, 
and  some  distance  beyond  that  again  was  the  creek  where 
they  had  moored  their  sailing-boat.  All  at  once  McCalmont 
paused  with  a  strange  look  on  his  face. 

"  Archie,  where  is  the  boat  ?  "  said  he. 

The  younger  lad  glanced  at  him  awe-stricken.  It  was  more 
from  the  look  of  Colin's  face  than  from  anything  else  that  he 
guessed  something  was  wrong. 

"  Archie,  they've  stolen  the  boat — they've  taken  away  the 
boat ! ''  said  the  elder  lad,  gazing  at  the  empty  creek. 

"That  is  not  possible,  Colin,"  said  the  other  (but  with  a 
sudden  sinking  of  the  heart).  "  They  dare  not  do  that.  It 
would  be  seen.  They  had  no  boat  towing  astern.  Maybe 
they  have  hid  it,  Colin,  for  a  joke." 

Without  answering,  Colin  ran  up  to  the  top  of  one  of  the 
higher  plateaus,  and  eagerly  scanned  every  little  indentation 
of  the  coast-line.  But  no  mast  was  visible ;  and  the  mast  of 
the  boat  was  higher  than  any  of  these  rocks.  Then  his  quick  eye 
noticed  something  floating  on  the  water  some  forty  or  fifty 
yards  out,  and  then  something  else — a  basket  that  he  recog- 
nized \  and  then  he  knew  what  had  happened. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


But  before  going  down  to  his  companion  he  pulled  himself 
together.  He  knew  that  Archie  Livingston  was  easily  fright- 
ened ;  and  this  that  had  happened  was  enough  to  frighten  an 
older  lad  than  he.  McCalmont  descended  from  the  plateau 
slowly,  considering  what  he  should  say,  and  doing  his  best  to 
assume  an  indifferent  demeanor. 

"  Archie,"  said  he,  "  there  is  no  doubt  about  what  the 
Frenchmen  have  done.  They  have  taken  out  the  boat  and 
sunk  her.  Yonder  are  things  belonging  to  her,  floating  on 
the  water  ;  but  not  the  oars.     They  have  stolen  the  oars." 

Almost  mechanically  the  younger  lad's  eyes  were  turned  to 
the  space  of  water  indicated  by  his  companion  ;  and  then  said, 
aghast : 

"  Colin,  we  shall  die  of  hunger." 


20  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

Colin  had  prepared  for  this. 

"  Die  of  hunger !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Now  you  are  talk* 
ing  like  some  poor  creature  who  has  never  been  away 
from  a  town.  You  are  talking  Hke  the  tailor  who  came 
to  Bemera  last  year,  and  he  did  not  know  that  cattle  could 
swim." 

"  How  could  w^e  swim  to  the  mainland  ? "  said  the 
younger  lad,  who  seemed  ready  to  cry.  "  It  is  twelve  miles 
and  more." 

"  I  did  not  mean  that  at  all.  I  say  you  are  talking  foolish- 
ness when  you  speak  of  dying  of  starvation ;  and  that  you 
ought  to  know  better,  being  a  Highland  jad,  and  not  a  tailor 
from  Glasgow." 

Indeed,  this  raising  of  his  companion's  spirits  was  giving 
McCalmont  himself  plenty  of  spirits. 

"  Now,  look  here,  Archie.  The  loss  of  the  boat,  that 
is  bad ;  my  father  can  ill  afford  to  lose  the  boat ;  and  that 
is  a  hard  thing.  But  there  is  no  more  than  that.  They 
will  soon  find  out  that  we  are  here,  and  they  will  send 
over  for  us ;  and,  until  they  send  over  for  us,  do  you 
not  think  we  will  find  enough  and  plenty  to  eat  ?  Is 
there  no  dulse  along  the  shore  .''  Are  there  no  eachans*  in 
the  sand  ? 

"  One  would  think,  to- hear  you  talk,  that  you  were  the  high 
Lord  Provost  of  London,  who  eats  all  the  day  long  and  half- 
way through  the  night,  and  only  stops  to  sleep  for  an  hour  or 
two.  Tell  me  this,  now  :  if  eachans  and  dulse  will  not  do,  if 
it  is  to  be  like  the  Lord  Provost  you  are  wishing,  could  I  not 
shoot  a  sheep  1  Just  think  of  that ;  and  do  not  talk  any 
more  about  starvation."     • 

"  But  how  will  they  know  that  we  are  here,  Colin  ?  "  said 
the  younger  lad,  looking  far  away  over  to  the  blue  line,  with 
one  or  two  higher  peeks,  that  represented  the  mainland. 

"  I  will  tell  you  a  story,  Archie.  It  was  a  fishing-boat  at  St. 
Kilda,  and  she  went  away  in  the  morning,  with  five  men  in 
her,  and  there  was  a  head  storm  during  the  day,  and  the  boat 
was  smashed  on  a  small  island — perhaps  it  was  Eilean  Mor, 
and  perhaps  it  was  Gealtaire  Mor  ;  that  is  no  matter  ;  but  the 
five  men  saved  themselves. 


*  The  eachan  is  a  shell-fish  resembling  the  cockle,  but  a  trifle  smaller,  and  with  a 
smooth  shell.  It  is  similar  to,  if  it  is  not  identical  with,  the  American  clam  ; 
and  it  is  odd  that,  while  it  is  the  common  shell-fish  of  the  sandy  bays  in  the  western 
Highlands,  it  is  quite  unknown,  as  far  as  1  am  aware,  in  the  south  of  Great 
Britain. 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  rilULE.  21 

"  Very,  well,  then  ;  what  did  they  do  ?  They  gathered  bits 
of  stick,  and  dried  heather,  and  the  like,  and  they  made  them 
into  five  fires  ;  and  when  the  night  came  they  lit  the  five  fires, 
and  their  wives  and  the  people  at  St.  Kilda  saw  the  fires,  and 
they  knew  that  all  the  men  were  saved. 

"  Now,  does  that  story  tell  you  anything,  or  does  it  not  tell 
you  anything  ?  " 

"  We  will  light  a  fire  to-night,  Colin  ?  "  said  the  younger 
lad,  eagerly. 

"  We  will  not.  What  would  be  the  use  of  that  ?  They  will 
not  be  looking  out  for  us  at  all :  for  they  will  think  that  we 
have  gone  away  up  to  the  sheilling  with  bread  for  the  girls. 
But  to-morrow  die  girls  will  be  sending  down  ;  and  then  they 
will  ask  where  we  are  ;  and  then  there  will  be  a  search  every- 
where ;  and  then  in  the  evening  we  will  have  a  great  heap  of 
wood  together  and  the  dried  heather,  too  ;  and  they  will  see 
the  fire  well  enough." 

"  Will  we  have  to  stay  on  the  island  to-night,  Colin  ?"  said 
Archie,  looking  apprehensively  around — for  his  mind  was 
stocked  with  the  mysterious  legendary  tales  and  fancies  of 
these  northern  solitudes. 

"  I  do  not  say  that,  Archie,"  replied  his  companion,  grimly. 
"  If  you  can  swim  to  the  mainland,  there  will  be  no  need  to 
pass  the  night  on  Farriskeir.  But  if  you  can  it  is  not  I  that 
can.  It  is  a  good  swim  from  Farriskeir  to  the  White  Sands 
of  Uig." 

And  then  he  looked  out  at  the  one  or  two  objects  floating 
in  the  water  which  told  him  where  the  Frenchmen  had  sunk 
the  boat. 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  and  they  have  sunk  our  oatcake,  too,  and 
our  bottle  of  water,  I  know  where  there  are  two  springs,  but 
sheep  tread  over  them,  and  if  we  clean  them  out  it  will  be  a  long 
time  before  they  settle.  So  we  will  do  that  first,  Archie.  You 
will  clean  out  the  springs,  and  I  will  go  to  the  wreckage  that 
my  father  and  the  rest  of  them  collected,  and  I  will  get 
two  or  three  boards  and  put  over  the  springs  so  that  the  sheep 
may  not  trample  over  them." 

The  first  spring  they  went  to  looked  unpromising  enough ; 
it  was  more  like  a  path  of  green  mire  in  a  hollow  of  one  of 
the  grassy  plateaus.  But  they  sought  out  its  source,  and  the 
younger  lad  set  to  work  to  remove  the  muddy  herbage,  while  his 
companion  went  away  for   two  or  three  planks. 

Indeed,  they  had  plenty  of  work  cut  out  for  themselves 
during  the  day.   They  hunted  for  dulse.   They  each  got  a  piece 


22  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

of  iron  from  off  the  wreckage  and  dug  in  the  soft  sand  for 
eachans.  And  then  they  gathered  bracken  for  their  bedding : 
whereupon  arose  the  question  as  to  where  they  should  pass 
the  night. 

"  The  driest  place  would  be  the  cave,"  said  Colin,  "  and 
you  will  see  by  the  withered  seaweed  on  the  shore  that  it  is 
many  a  day  since  the  sea  washed  any  sand  into  the  cave. 
There  is  no  danger  of  that  at  all.  It  is  with  a  spring-tide  and 
a  heavy  gale  from  the  west  that  you  might  have  water  in  the 
cave." 

"  Colin,"  said  the  other,  doubtfully,  "  I  have  heard  about 
wild-cats  being  about  the  caves." 

"  There  is  not  a  wild-cat  on  the  island,"  said  the  other, 
impatiently.  '•  Do  you  think  that  wild-cats  can  swim  from 
the  mainland  ?  It  is  all  very  well  for  an  otter  to  swim  from 
the  mainland,  and  if  an  otter  comes  into  the  cave,  who  will  be 
the  more  frightened  ?  Is  is  not  you  or  I,  but  the  otter,  that 
will  get  a  fright  if  he  comes  in  the  night-time  and  finds  us 
there  asleep.  And  this  is  what  I  am  thinking  of  now,  Archie  ; 
will  we  not  take  some  planks  into  the  cave,  and  put  them  on  the 
sand,  aud  put  the  bracken  on  them .''  and  that  will  make  a 
very  good  bed  indeed.  Oh,  we  will  do  very  well.  You  know 
what  they  say  :  when  you  cannot  get  a  deer  of  ten,*  be  sat- 
isfied with  a  deer  of  eight." 

He  was  a  shifty  lad  ;  and  when  the  two  companions  that 
night,  having  had  their  supper  of  eachans,  with  a  good  drink 
of  clear  spring  water,  went  and  lay  down  on  a  comfortable 
bed  of  bracken  made  up  within  the  cave,  they  could  not  be 
considered  to  be  very  badly  off. 

But  what  chiefly  exercised  Colin  McCalmont's  mind  (though 
he  said  nothing  about  it  to  Archie)  was  as  to  the  way  in  which 
his  father  would  receive  the  news  of  the  loss  of  his  boat. 
Would  he  take  into  consideration  his  son's  good  intentions  .'* 
Or  would  he  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  lost  this  valu- 
uable  piece  of  property  simply  through  an  inexcusable  out- 
burst of  boyish  folly  ?  It  was  a  serious  question ;  for  old 
McCalmont  was  a  strict  disciplinaria-n. 

In  the  meantime  Colin  had  but  little  doubt  about  himself 
and  his  companion  being  able  to  get  back  to  the  mainland — 
when  once  they  had  had  a  great  bonfire  lit  on  the  highest 
point  of  Farriskeir. 

The  gray  dawn  broke. 

*  Of  ten  points — referring  to  the  antlers. 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 


23 


"  Colin,"  said  the  younger  lad,  who  had  not  slept  much, 
"  did  you  hear  the  strange  sounds  in  the  night  ?  " 

"  No,  I  heard  no  sounds  at  all,"  said  his  companion, 
drowsily. 

"  There  were  cries  and  strange  noises  ;  I  do  not  wish  to 
have  another  night  on  the  island." 

"  It  is  your  head  that  is  full  of  nonsense ;  and  you  were 
hearing  the  sea-pyots  and  curlews.  Now  I  am  going  to  sleep 
again." 

"  I  cannot  sleep  any  more,"  the  younger  lad  said.  "  Now 
that  there  is  daylight  I  am  going  to  the  spring  for  a  drink  of 
fresh  water." 

Colin  McCalmont  turned  himself  over  on  his  bed  of 
bracken  ;  and  the  younger  lad  wandered  out  into  the  silence 
and  solitude  of  the  early  morning. 

Very  soon  McCalmont  was  asleep  again.  He  was  not  an 
over-imaginative  person ;  he  did  not  bother  his  head  about 
dreams  and  portents ;  and,  besides,  they  had  been  up  very 
early  on  the  previous  morning.  The  bed  of  bracken  was  soft 
enough,  and  there  was  no  sound  to  break  the  silence  save  the 
drowsy  murmur  of  the  sea  outside.     He  was  fast  asleep. 

But  suddenly  he  found  himself  wakened  again  ;  and  he  be- 
came dimly  aware  that  Archie  Livingston  had  a  tight  grip  of 
his  arm  and  was  kneehng  beside  him.  He  roused  himself. 
He  found  that  his  companion  was  all  trembling,  and  that  he 
could  scarcely  speak. 

"  What  is  it,  Archie,"  he  said. 

"  I — I  have  seen  one  of  them,"  the  younger  boy  gasped,  and 
still  he  clung  to  his  companion's  arm  as  if  for  safety.  "  Oh, 
Colin,  it  is  a  terrible  sight !  Quite  plain — down  by  the  rocks 
— it  did  not  move." 

Colin  sat  up  and  rubbed  his  eyes. 

"  What  is  this  now  t  "  said  he,  with  a  trifle  of  impatience. 

"  It  is  no  foolishness  this  time,"  the  younger  lad  said, 
almost  entreatingly.  "You  will  see  for  yourself,  Colin,  if  you 
have  the  courage  to  go.  It  is  like  a  woman.  It  is  one  of  the 
princesses.  But  she  did  not  see  me  ;  or  she  would  have 
changed  into  a  swan  and  flown  away.  But  it  was  a  terrible, 
terrible  sight ;  I  will  never  forget  it  till  the  day  I  die." 

"  I  tell  you,  Archie,"  said  the  other,  angrily,  "  that  if  you 
let  such  nonsense  come  into  your  head,  it  is  mad  you  will  be 
in  time.  Come  and  let  me  see  your  princess  and  your  wild 
swans  now  !  And  if  it  is  a  wild  swan,  perhaps  I  will  tickle 
him  before  he  flies  awav." 


24  AN  ADVEiXTURE  IN  THULE. 

He  got  up  and  sought  out  the  horse-pistol,  which  he  had 
put  in  a  dry  place. 

"  Come  away,  now,  and  let  me  see  your  wild  swan  that  is 
like  a  princess." 

"  Oh  no,  I  cannot !  I  cannot,  Colin  !  "  said  the  younger  lad, 
who  was  still  trembling. 

-  "  But  I  say  you  must,  now,  I  will  put  the  nonsense  out  of 
your  head.  Do  you  wish  to  become  mad,  and  go  through  the 
villages  like  Alister,  the  piper's  son,  that  the  children  make  a 
fool  of  ? " 

And  then  he  took  to  the  ironical  method. 

"  Do  you  know  this  now,  Archie,  that  I  never  heard  of  the 
ghost  yet  that  would  stand  to  have  a  charge  of  buckshot  put 
into  it.  It  will  be  very  fine  now  to  have  a  shot  at  a  ghost. 
Come  away,  Archie ;  and  if  we  meet  any  ghost  or  princess,or 
anybody  of  that  kind,  it  is  I  who  will  go  forward  and  speak 
to  them  and  say,  ^  Good-morning.'  For  that  is  good  manners 
to  a  stranger  ;  and  my  father  has  the  farming  of  Farriskeir  : 
and  if  a  stranger  comes  to  Farriskeir,  it  is  not  I  that  would 
be  so  unfriendly  as  not  to  say  '  Good-morning.'  " 

It  was  with  great  reluctance  that  Archie  Livingston  con- 
sented to  go  out  from  the  cave  again  with  his  companion  ; 
and,  when  at  last  he  undertook  to  show  McCalmont  where  he 
had  seen  this  strange  thing,  he  advanced  with  stealthy  step 
and  abated  breath. 

Of  course,  McCalmont  did  not  expect  to  see  anything.  It 
was  to  cure  the  imagination  of  the  boy  that  he  had  insisted 
on  going  to  the  spot.  And  therefore  he  went  on  unheeding, 
chiefly  watching  the  wild  birds  flying  about. 

At  a  certain  eminence  on  one  of  the  little  plateaus,  Archie 
Livingston  gripped  his  arm,  and  hs  stopped  to  ask  what  this 
meant ;  but  at  the  same  moment  he  caught  sight  of  some- 
thing down  by  the  shore  there  that,  despite  all  his  deteniii- 
nation,  made  his  face  turn  perfectly  white.  He  could  not 
budge.  He  stood  still ;  but  he  found  himself  incapable  of 
speaking. 

There,  sure  enough,  down  near  the  water's  edge,  and 
seated  on  a  rock,  was  a  figure. 

It  could  not  be  an  optical  illusion  ;  for  they  were  both 
regarding  the  same  spot.  And  it  was  the  figure  of  a  woman, 
too — bent  forward,  her  face  resting  on  her  hands  and  cov- 
ered. And  this  woman  was  not  dressed  as  any  person  in  the 
Highlands  dressed. 

He    stood    and     stared;    trying   to  get  the  better   of  this 


AJV  ADVENTURE  IN  TIIULE. 


25 


thumping  of  his  heart,  and  summoning  to  his  aid  all  his  disbe- 
lief in  ghosts. 

Then  the  woman  down  there  lifted  her  head — wearily,  as 
it  seemed  to  him ;  then  she  caught  sight  of  the  lads,  and 
sprang  to  her  feet  with  a  slight  cry,  and  advanced  to  them 
— her  hands  stretched  out  before  her,  and  she  was  saying 
something.  Now,  when  she  made  this  sudden  and  quick 
advance,  Colin  McCalmont,  despite  himself,  retreated  a 
couple  of  steps  :  but  he  kept  his  face  towards  her  ;  and  then 
he  stood 


CHAPTER  V 


"  Archie,"  said  Colin,  in  a  low  voice,  "  it  is  a  woman.  It 
is  not  any  ghost.  I  cannot  make  out  what  she  says  except 
'peety.peetyV 

The  young  woman  came  nearer  to  them — now  timidly  and 
slowly — her  hands  still  outstretched,  and  tears  running  down 
her  face,  while  she  spoke  rapidly  and  imploringly. 

This  appeal,  which  was  a  mute  appeal  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  drove  any  remnant  of  fear  out  of  his  mind  ;  he 
forgot  even  his  timid  companion  behind  ;  he  went  forward  to 
her,  wondering  how  he  could  convey  to  this  poor  young  lady 
that  they  wished  to  be  very  friendly  to  her. 

He  shook  his  head,  to  let  her  know  he  did  not  understand 
her ;  and  then  she,  with  a  great  deal  more  of  gladness  in  her 
face,  for  she  could  not  but  see  that  the  lads  wished  to  be 
friendly,  began  to  try  to  explain  her  situation  by  signs.  And 
again  and  again  she  pointed  to  the  north,  though  there  was 
no  boat  visible. 

*'  Colin."  said  the  younger  lad,  "  she  has  been  going  to 
Iceland  in  one  of  the  smacks ;  and  the  smack  has  got 
wrecked,  and  she  has  been  saved." 

"  How  could  that  be  ?  Her  clothes  have  not  been  in  the 
water." 

"  Colin,  say  France  to  her,  and  you  will  see  if  she  is 
French." 

Colin,  repeated  this  word  to  her,  which,  to  tell  the  truth, 
was  all  of  the  French  language  that  either  he  or  his  compan- 
ion knew  ;  and  instantly  the  young  lady  nodded  eagerly,  and 
said  something  which,  of  course,  they  did  not  understand. 

And  now  that  they  had  begun  to  communicate  with  each 
other   by    signs,  it  soon   became   clear   that  the  younger  lad 


26  AjV  adventure  in  tjiule, 

■was  much  sharper  at  that  than  his  companion.  In  fact, 
Archie  Livingston  became  the  interpreter. 

"  When  she  means  '  yes/  said  he,  to  his  companion,  "  some- 
times she  says  see  and  sometimes  wee ;  but  a  nod  of  the  head 
is  still  surer.  And  she  says  she  will  go  with  us  to  the  main- 
land ;  but  how  am  I  to  tell  her  that  we  have  no  boat,  and  that 
she  must  wait  till  the  evening  before  we  can  light  the  bonfire  ? " 

"  Well,  you  must  get  on  as  well  as  you  can,  Archie,"  said 
the  other ;  "  and  there  is  the  whole  day  for  you  to  talk  to  her 
with  your  head  and  your  hands  ;  aud  in  the  meanwhile  I  am 
going  away  to  dig  for  eachans,  for  who  knows  when  the  lady 
may  have  had  anything  to  eat  ? " 

"  Do  you  think  she  will  eat  eachans  ? "  said  Archie,  doubt- 
fully. 

"  It  is  better  to  eat  eachans  than  to  starve,"  said  the  other. 
"  Vou  do  not  need  the  old  man  of  Ross  to  tell  you  that. 
And  if  she  is  from  France,  people  who  eat  frogs  need  not 
turn  up  their  noses  at  eachans." 

In  not  much  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  Colin  McCal- 
mont  returned,  carrying  in  both  hands  a  sort  of  basket  made 
of  the  fronds  of  the  bracken,  and  in  this  green  nest  lay  a 
quantity  of  eachans,  like  so  many  eggs,  all  washed  white  and 
clean.  He  put  them  down  in  front  of  her,  and  took  out  his 
pocket-knife  and  opened  a  few,  as  one  might  open  oysters  ;  and 
these  he  offered  to  her.  What  she  did  was  singular.  She  took 
his  hand  and  pressed  it,  and  then  smiled  and  shook  her  head. 

"  Perhaps  she  is  not  hungry,"  Colin  said,  after  a  second. 

"  Perhaps  she  does  nor  like  shell-fish  raw,"  said  the  other. 
"  Could  you  not  roast  some,  Colin,  as  the  mussles  are  roas- 
ted ?  Could  we  make  a  small  fire  now,  and  roast  some 
eachans  in  the  ashes  ? " 

"  I  see  no  difficulty  about  that  whatever." 

Nor  was  there.  He  collected  some  tufts  of  withered  heather, 
and  broke  up  one  or  two  pieces  of  wood,  and  put  under- 
neath the  pile  a  piece  of  a  copy  of  the  Oban  Times  that  he 
had  brought  with  him  for  wadding ;  and  at  the  edge  of  the 
paper  placed  a  small  pioye.  The  flint  from  the  horse-pistol 
and  the  back  of  his  knife  did  the  rest,  and  soon  they  had  a 
small  fire  burning — the  precursor  of  the  greater  bonfire  of 
the  evening. 

When  the  eachans  were  roasted,  Colin  picked  out  some  of 
them  from  the  ashes  with  a  bit  of  stick ;  and  Archie,  when 
they  were  sufficiently  cool  to  be  touched,  cut  them  open  and 
offered  them  to  the  lady.     Tears  came  into  her  eyes  as  he  did 


j4A'  adventure  in  THULE.  27 

so.  He  thought  it  very  strange  that  any  one  should  cry  for 
no  apparent  reason  ;  but  he  was  glad  to  see  that  she  took  one 
or  two  of  the  roasted  shell-fish. 

"  I  am  thinking,"  said  the  elder  of  the  lads,  "  that  she  is 
only  taking  them  to  please  us.  If  she  was  hungr}'^,  she  would 
be  quicker.  I  wonder  now  if  it  is  not  a  drink  of  water  she 
would  rather  have  than  anything  else  ?  These  French  people 
are  very  unfortunate  that  they  speak  such  a  language," 

But  Archie  Livingston,  taking  the  hint,  went  away  along 
the  shore,  kicking  the  sea-weed  about  until  he  found  a  large 
scallop-shell,  which  he  washed  free  of  sand  in  the  nearest 
pool.  Then  he  went  away  over  the  grassy  hillocks  till  he 
came  to  the  spring,  where  he  filled  the  shell.  To  carry  any- 
thing like  the  full  quantity  back  was  clearly  impossible  ;  but 
at  least  there  was  enough  to  let  her  understand  that  there  was 
fresh  water  on  the  island. 

And  how  grateful  the  young  lady  seemed  1  She  patted  the 
boy  on  the  head — on  the  shoulder — on  the  hand.  And  she 
spoke  to  him,  though  she  knew  he  could  not  comprehend 
what  she  said. 

"  But  you  hear  that,  Colin  ? "  he  said,  turning  to  his  com- 
panion. "  She  said  a  great  deal  about  *  mercy.'  She  said 
the  water  was  a  mercy.  Now,  that  is  what  they  say  also  in 
English ;  when  you  have  your  food  put  before  you — the  meat 
and  the  drink — and  when  you  do  not  ask  the  blessing  in  Gae- 
lic, then  you  have  to  call  these  things  on  the  table  '  mercies.' 
She  must  be  very  well  brought  up,  and  not  as  a  heathen  at  all." 

"  But  this  is  what  I  am  thinking  of,  Archie,"  said  the 
other  ;  "  that  the  little  water  you  can  get  in  a  scallop-shell 
is  not  of  much  use  to  any  one.  And  if  I  could  understand 
the  lady  as  well  as  you  can,  I  would  ask  her  to  go  with  me 
to  the  spring,  and  there  she  can  have  as  much  water  as 
she  likes." 

When  this  proposal  was  conveyed  to  her,  she  followed  her 
guide  gladly  ;  and  when  they  reached  the  spring,  she  drank  of 
the  water  freely  by  means  of  this  shell.  And  then  they  went 
back  to  the  fire,  where  Colin  McCalmont  was  having  his  break- 
fast ;  and  the  young  lady  made  signs  to  the  younger  lad  that 
he,  too,  was  to  join  in  that  feast  of  roasted  eachans,  and  that 
she  was  quite  content. 

"  Well,  this  is  a  strange  thing,"  said  the  younger  one ;  "  but 
when  we  get  back  to  the  mainland  we  will  know  all  about  it, 
for  my  father  knows  French  as  well  as  Latin  and  a  great  many 
other  things." 


28  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

"  But  what  is  the  use  of  knowing  French  ? "  said  the  elder 
lad,  who  was  a  practical  youth,  and  better  acquainted  with  the 
price  of  sheep. 

"  The  use  of  it  ?  The  use  of  it  is  to  make  you  a  learned 
person,  and  then  the  people  pay  you  for  teaching  others." 

"  But  your  father  does  not  teach  any  one  French,  Archie." 

"  Well,  then,  the  use  of  it  is  to  make  you  not  so  ignorant  as 
the  other  common  people.  When  Sir  Evan  Roy  comes  to 
Glen  Estera  he  will  be  speaking  quite  freely  with  my  father ; 
but  the  other  ones  they  have  to  think  about  their  English." 

"  I  think  Gaelic  is  as  good  a  language  as  any ;  and  also  that 
it  is  more  easily  spoken  than  any  other." 

"  But  of  what  use  to  you  is  Gaelic  if  you  go  away  from  the 
Lewis  ?  For  my  part,  I  would  like  to  know  six  or  seven 
languages." 

"  That  would  be  a  fine  thing !  "  said  the  other,  with  a  laugh 
of  scorn.  "  To  spend  all  your  life  in  learning  the  languages 
of  other  people ;  and  then,  when  you  had  got  them,  it  would 
be  time  to  die.  I  think  one  language  is  quite  enough  for  any 
one  ;  and  Gaelic  is  the  easiest." 

When  they  had  finished  their  breakfast,  they  also  went  and 
had  a  drink  of  fresh  water ;  and  then  they  set  to  work  to  carry 
up  to  the  highest  plateau  a  pile  of  the  wood  that  plentifully 
bestrewed  the  western  shores  of  the  island — some  of  it,  indeed, 
having  been  hauled  up  above  high-water  mark  for  transporta- 
tion to  Ihe  mainland.  The  steamer  had  been  comparatively 
a  new  one,  and  much  of  this  wreckage  consisted  of  internal 
fittings — cabin  doors  and  tables,  bottle  ranges,  benches, 
lockers,  and  what  not — that  had  been  wofully  smashed. 

"  It  is  very  hard  to  burn  all  this  good  wood,"  said  Colin 
McCalmont ;  "  and  much  of  it  mahogany,  too ;  but  we  must 
have  a  big  blaze,  and  then  we  are  saving  the  lady's  life." 

"  Yes,  and  our  own  lives,  too,"  said  the  younger  lad,  sitting 
down  for  a  rest,  for  it  was  stiff  work  carrying  these  planks. 
"  They  will  not  be  mourning  over  the  wood  when  they  find  us 
alive.  And  by  this  time  now,  Colin,  by  this  time,  do  you  not 
think  some  one  of  the  girls  must  have  been  sent  down  from 
the  sheilling  for  bread  ?  " 

"  By  this  time,  surely." 

"  Then  they  will  know  we  were  not  at  the  sheilling  last 
night,  and  they  will  be  looking  everywhere  for  us ;  and  they 
will  be  sure  to  go  and  look  if  the  boat  is  in  the  creek.  And 
when  they  see  that  the  boat  is  not  in  the  creek,  they  will 
know  how  we  went  away ;  and  you  may  be  sure  there  will  be 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULB.  29 

many  a  sharp  eye  on  the  lookout  all  the  day  and  all  the 
evenmg." 

"  Very  well,  now,  Archie,  I  will  tell  you  what  you  will  do. 
You  will  leave  the  rest  of  the  building  of  the  bonfire  to  me, 
for  I  am  not  easily  tired;  and  you  will  go  back  and  talk  to 
the  lady  with  your  hands  and  your  head  as  you  were  doing. 
Perhaps  I  will  not  use  any  more  of  the  wood ;  that  is  the  thing 
that  is  grieving  me.  I  will  build  up  three  or  four  feet  of  the 
withered  heather,  and  then  I  will  put  the  wood  on  that.  If  it 
was  only  the  autumn  now,  and  we  could  get  the  withered 
bracken,  there  would  be  no  need  to  use  all  that  fine  wood." 

"  Have  you  a  lead-pencil,  Colin  ? " 

"  I  have  a  small  bit." 

Archie  was  at  that  moment  rummaging  among  the  splinters 
and  boards  they  had  brought  up ;  and  at  last  he  lit  upon  a 
piece  of  wood,  painted  white,  that  had  been  part  of  the  door 
of  a  locker. 

"  Give  me  your  pencil,  Colin,  and  I  will  go  and  tell  the  lady 
what  we  are  waiting  for.'^ 

"  And  if  you  cannot  speak  French,  are  you  going  to  be 
writing  French  ?  "  said  the  other,  with  a  laugh. 

"  I  am  not  going  to  write  at  all,  Colin,  except  in  the  way 
that  the  ancient  people  wrote,  on  the  Pyramids  and  such 
places  as  that.  And  you  will  see  whether  the  lady  will  un- 
derstand or  whether  she  will  not  understand." 

"  Very  well,  then,  Archie  ;  go  back  to  the  lady,  and  I  will 
go  on  with  the  bonfire  ;  and  this  is  what  I  am  thinking,  that  I 
will  build  a  bonfire  that  will  be  easily  made  out  from  the 
land.  For  you  know  what  they  say  :  '  There  cannot  be  any- 
thing in  the  sky  or  on  the  earthy  but  the  Islay  men's  eyes  can 
behold ;  nor  can  anything  in  a  corner  or  lock-fast  place  escape  the 
eye  of  a  Mulbnan.'  But  what  1  say  is,  that  the  Lewis  men 
have  sharper  eyes  than  either." 

"  I  think  every  one  knows  that,"  said  Archie,  "  from  Fra- 
serburgh all  the  way  round  to  Greenock." 

Well,  when  McCalmont  had  finished  piling  up  this  great 
heap  of  heather  and  driftwood  he  went  and  rejoined  his  com- 
panion ;  and  found,  to  his  great  astonishment,  that  the  young 
lady — whose  black  eyes  seemed  to  be  full  of  gladness  and 
kindness  and  gratitude — appeared  to  understand  the  whole 
situation  of  affairs.  For  young  Livingston  had  drawn  various 
things,  in  a  rude  sort  of  way,  on  the  bit  of  white  wood  ;  and 
she  seemed  a  clever,  imaginative  sort  of  person,  for  she 
guessed  eagerly  what  he  meant  to  cjnvey.- 


30  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

"  I  never  saw  a  boat  like  that,  Archie,"  said  the  elder  lad, 
laughing,  "  for  you  have  got  the  mast  in  the  middle  of 
her." 

"  That  is  no  matter  at  all,"  said  the  other,  without  confusion, 
^'  if  the  lady  understands  that  the  boat  will  come  for  her  after 
the  bonfire  is  lit." 

"  Then  you  might  be  doing  a  worse  thing  than  asking  her 
to  come  and  look  at  the  bonfire,  now  that  it  is  complete. 
I  can  tell  you,  Archie,  that  m^  arms  will  be  sore  to-morrow. 

The  boy  showed  her  the  rough  sketch  of  a  bonfire  that  he 
had  made  on  the  board,  and  then  pointed  to  the  middle  of  the 
island,  himself  setting  out,  and  inviting  her  to  accompany 
him.  She  understood  at  once,  and  smilingly  assented.,  They 
led  her  by  the  driest  ways  (for  there  was  some  mossy  ground 
on  these  plateaus)  to  the  spot,  and  she  seemed  greatly 
pleased. 

"  She  can  speak  a  little,  Archie,"  said  the  elder  one.  *'  It 
is  not  much  ;  but  it  is  a  little.  She  cannot  say  '  bonfire,'  but 
she  says  '  bon,  bon' — which  is  a  part  of  it.  Though  she 
speaks  through  her  nose,  she  understands  well  enough.  The 
French  are  not  so  stupid  as  people  say." 

They  passed  the  afternoon  somehow.  More  eachans  were 
roasted.  As  the  evening  fell,  the  southerly  wind  freshened, 
and  the  skies  got  darkened  over. 

"  I  hope  there  is  not  going  to  be  a  gale,"  said  the  younger 
lad,  apprehensively. 

"  That  is  not  any  gale,"  said  the  other.  "  And  if  there 
was  a  gale  now  1  We  should  be  two  or  three  days  more  on 
the  island,  perhaps  ;  and  what  is  that  ?  Maybe  I  would  have 
to  shoot  a  sheep;  for  the  finely  brought-up  people  they 
cannot  live  on  a  handful  of  eachans  and  a  bit  of  dulse  as  you 
or  I  could,  Archie." 

"  But  that  is  not  any  gale  ;  and  the  darker  it  grows  the 
sooner  we  will  light  our  bonfire  ;  and  the  fresher  the  wind  the 
sooner  will  the  people  come  across  in  your  father's  boat.  So 
there  is  nothing  to  have  a  downcast  face  about ;  and  you  must 
not  show  a  downcast  face  ;  for  the  lady  there  she  watches  us 
both,  and  every  one  knows  that  women  are  easily  frightened 
persons." 

They  waited  until  the  dusky  twilight  had  gathered  over 
land  and  sea  before  they  lit  the  bonfire.  At  first  there  was 
only  a  little  crackling  ;  then  a  few  thin  red  tongues  of  fire  ; 
then  a  growing  blaze  of  crimson  and  orange  that  made  the 
surrounding  twiligl>t  look  a  stranc;e,  intense,  livid  blue.     And 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  ^^^^'^^/^Q  J^^W 

then  the  fire  began  to  roar,  for  the  breeze  f anne'SttT^tf^"^ 
soon   there  was   a  blazing  mass  of  flame  that   surely  would 
carry  a  message  to  the  distant  shores  of  Lewis. 

"  Archie,"  said  the  elder  lad,  "  you  will  keep  stirring  the 
bonfire  now,  and  I  will  go  for  another  armful  or  two  of  wood. 
We  must  have  a  big  blaze  in  case  there  might  be  a  shower  oi 
rain.  Yes  ;  and  if  there  are  any  French  smacks  going  by  in 
ihe  night,  do  you  not  think  now  that  such  a  blaze  as  that  will 
tell  them  that  there  is  some  one  on  Farriskeir  t  " 

He  went  and  came  back  with  the  first  load  of  the  drift- 
wood. 

"  The  sheep  are  wild  with  fright,  Archie  ;  they  never  saw 
anything  like  this  on  Farriskeir  before." 

He  fetched  another  load. 

"  There,  now,"  said  he,  '*  that  will  make  a  blaze  that  will  be 
seen  from  Gallon  Head  to  Scarfa  Island.  And  if  they  are 
already  in  your  father's  boat,  it  is  not  I  that  would  be  sur- 
prised ;  and  with  a  good  breeze  of  wind  like  this  they  will 
not  be  long  in  coming  over." 

"  Colin,"  said  the  younger  lad,  "  this  is  what  I  am  thinking 
of  ;  when  your  father,  or  my  father,  or  perhaps  Dugald  Mc- 
Lean from  Glen  Estera,  comes  over  in  the  boat,  and  they  will 
ask  about  the  lady  there,  and  who  she  is,  and  where  she  came 
from,  what  is  it  now  that  we  will  be  saying  ?  " 

Colin  laughed,  in  his  superior  wisdom. 

"  Then  you  do  not  remember  what  the  old  man  of  Ross 
said.  This  is  what  he  said,  Archie  :  '  That  which  you  do  not 
know,  tell  that  to  no  one.^  How  are  we  to  be  answering 
anything  about  the  French  young  lady  ?  Let  them  ask  for 
tliemselves.  And  indeed  I  wish  they  were  here  ;  for  it  is  not 
a  pleasant  thing  that  you  and  I  should  be  talking  and  talk- 
ing, and  the  lady  there  not  able  to  know  what  is  going  on, 
because  she  understands  nothing  but  that  useless  language. 
And  if  your  father  can  speak  that  language  it  is  not  anything 
to  be  proud  of.  He  might  have  made  a  better  use  of  his 
time." 

The  younger  lad  thought  over  this  for  some  time.  Then  he 
said  : 

"  Well,  perhaps  the  French  is  not  a  very  useful  language 
while  you  are  in  the  Lewis  or  any  other  part  of  that 
country.  But  if  you  wished  to  go  to  France  ?  If  you 
wished  to  go  to  France,  Colin,  you  would  have  to  learn  it. 
There  now." 

"  If  I  wished  to  go  to  France  !  "  said  the  other,  scornfully 


32  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

*'  And  who  would  be  so  foolish  as  that  ?  There  is  another 
wish  that  I  have,  that  has  more  of  common-sense  in  it.  I 
would  like  to  go  to  Fraserburgh,  and  see  the  great  fleet  of 
fishing-boats.     Now  there  would  be  some  sense  in  that." 


CHAPTER  VI. 


They  formed  a  picturesque  group  there  on  the  summit 
of  the  level  plateau — the  smaller  lad  stirring  up  the  smoul- 
dering portions  of  the  bonfire,  the  elder  heaping  on  broken 
planks  and  sticks,  the  young  girl  standing  apart  and  some- 
times watching  them  and  sometimes  scanning  the  now  dark- 
ened plain  of  the  waters  whence  she  understood  that  help  was 
to  come;  while,  as  the  masses  of  roaring  fire  waxed  or 
waned,  the  long  black  shadows  moved  on  the  greensward  and 
the  rocks. 

Perhaps,  indeed,  it  was  their  tending  of  the  bonfire  that 
prevented  the  lads  from  keeping  a  sharp  lookout ;  at  all 
events  it  was  neither  of  them  that  first  discovered  that  people 
were  coming  to  their  rescue.  They  had  had  the  bonfire 
blazing  for  nearly  an  hour,  when  suddenly  the  young  lady 
came  to  them,  and  eagerly  said  something,  and  pointed 
towards  the  sea  in  the  direction  of  the  mainland. 

Both  of  the  lads  withdrew  from  the  glare  of  the  bonfire, 
and  peering  into  the  darkness  with  eyes  that  were  well  accus- 
tomed to  descry  distant  objects. 

"  Well,  now,"  said  Colin  McCalmont,  with  some  mortifica- 
tion, "  it  will  be  a  strange  thing,  if  a  French  lady  can  make 
out  what  I  cannot  make  out ;  but  there  is  not  anything  that  I 
can  make  out  between  here  and  the  land." 

"  Your  eyes  are  blind  with  the  fire,  Colin,  and  so  are 
mine,"  said  his  companion.  "  I  wish  I  could  ask  her  what  it 
is." 

"  I  see  it !  I  see  it !  it  is  a  light !  "  exclaimed  McCalmont, 
with  involuntary  eagerness.  Then  he  immediately  checked 
himself.  Throughout  he  had  spoken  as  if  their  rescue  was  a 
matter  of  course,  in  order  to  keep  up  his  companion's  spirits. 
He  was  not  going  to  betray  any  extraordinary  surprise,  or  de- 
light, or  thankfulness  now.  So  he  continued  in  a  tone  of  cool 
criticism : 

"  Well,  now,  Archie,  that  is  a  strange  sort  of  light.  Your 
father  has  a  lantern  for  the  dark  nights  ;  but  that  is  not  a  Ian 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  33 

tern  at  the  mast-head  at  all.  It  is  very  low  down,  and  it  is 
red." 

"  Maybe  it  is  a  torch  at  the  bow,"  suggested  Archie  Living- 
ston. 

"  And  you  will  be  making  a  very  good  guess  that  time, 
Archie,  for  now  I  can  see  the  sparks  ;  and  the  sparks  are 
dropping  like  sparks  from  a  squib.  Oh,  this  is  a  fine  breeze, 
to  be  sure  ;  and  your  father's  boat  is  as  quick  a  sailor  as  any 
one  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Lewis.  I  should  not  wonder  if 
they  could  hear  us  now." 

Herewith  he  gave  a  tremendous  long,  slow  howl,  such  as 
the  shepherds  use  when  the  dogs  are  far  up  on  the  hill.  But 
there  was  no  response. 

"  They  will  be  too  far  away  yet,"  said  his  companion. 
"  Indeed,  Colin,  it  is  not  I  that  am  sorry  we  have  not  to 
stay  another  night  on  the  island.  It  was  terrible — the 
cries — " 

"  They  were  the  cries  of  the  French  lady,  that  was  all," 
said  the  elder  lad.  "  To  think  they  were  the  cries  of  ghosts  ! 
Tell  me  this,  Archie ;  if  you  can  see  tlirough  a  ghost,  and  if  a 
ghost  can  go  away  into  nothing,  where  is  the  throat  for  it  to 
make  a  cry  with  ?  It  is  your  head  that  is  full  of  nonsense 
about  ghosts  and  things  like  that. 

"  This  is  what  I  will  do  for  you  now,  Archie  ;.  you  will  catch 
one  of  your  ghosts  and  bring  him  to  me  ;  and  I  will  take  the 
knife  I  have  for  opening  mussels  for  bait,  and  I  will  cut  open 
the  ghost  for  you,  and  then  you  will  be  seeing  whether  he 
has  any  lungs,  or  a  throat,  or  a  tongue  that  could  make  a 
noise.  I  tell  you  I  have  not  as  much  fear  of  a  ghost  as  I 
have  of  a  skate.  When  you  are  cutting  open  a  skate,  some- 
tunes  he  will  snap  at  your  finger.  I  will  let  the  ghost  snap 
at  my  finger  if  he  can." 

\  Whether  this  logic  quite  convinced  Archie  Livingston  is  not 
of  much  moment ;  he  merely  said,  "  It  is  I  who  am  glad  not 
to  have  another  night  on  Farriskeir,"  and  kept  his  eyes  fixed 
on  the  sputtering  red  light  that  was  now  momentarily  coming 
nearer. 

What  a  wild  torrent  of  Gaelic  was  poured  forth  when  the 
farmer  and  schoolmaster  got  ashore — Colin  and  Archie  help- 
ing to  haul  the  bow  of  the  boat  up  on  the  shingle  !  Indeed, 
amid  all  these  questions  and  exclamations  and  remonstrances 
the  worthy  schoolmaster  quite  forgot  that  ordinarily  he  made 
it  a  strict  rule  to  speak  only  in  English.  How  could  English 
— which  is  a  slow,  formal,  limited  language — have  got  from 


34  AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

the  boys  a  narration  of  all  their  adventures  during  the  past 
two  days  ?  But,  that  over,  Mr.  Livingston  recollected  him- 
self. 

"  Archie,"  said  he,  in  his  best  English,  "  you  wass  saying 
the  leddy  was  a  French  leddy  ?  " 

^^Seadh ! "  said  Archie  :  and  then  he,  too,  recollected 
himself.  "  Ay,  she's  French.  And  no  word  of  English  at 
ahl !  " 

"  Kott  pless  me  !  "  said  the  schoolmaster,  looking  some- 
what distressed.  And  then  he  turned  to  his  friend  McCal- 
mont,  Colin's  father. 

"  It  is  a  terriple  pusiness,"  said  he,  "  to  speak  in  another 
langwich  when  one  is  not  speaking  it  for  many  years  and 
years.  Heh,  Duncan,  gif  me  the  oat-cake  and  the  whiskey 
out  of  the  locker ;  and  be  quick  about  it,  too.  The  boys 
are  goot  boys,  and  do  not  touch  the  whiskey ;  but  if  the 
young  leddy  has  had  nothing  to  eat  ahl  the  day  but  eachans, 
she  will  hef  a  drop  of  whiskey  and  no  harm  whateffer. 
And  whiskey  is  a  goot  langwich  that  every  one  can  under- 
stand." 

The  young  French  lady  had  come  down  from  the"  plat€?au, 
and  was  standing  apart — observing  everything  eagerly,  but 
not  attempting  to  speak.  She  could  see  by  their  gestures, 
and  by  their  occasionally  looking  towards  her,  that  they  were 
telling  the  story,  so  far  as  they  knew  it.  But  presently  Mr. 
Livingston,  having  got  some  whiskey  in  a  tumbler,  and  carry- 
ing a  piece  of  oat-cake  in  his  other  hand,  went  along  to 
where  she  was  standing,  and  made  her  a  most  gracious  and 
courteous  bow. 

Then  he  considered.  He  looked  at  her  dark  eyes  vaguely 
(everything  was  lit  up  by  the  gUre  from  the  bonfire),  as  if  he 
were  wondering  how  to  open  communication  with  her.  Then 
he  said,  slowly  : 

"  Mademoiselle — ici  est — est  oak-cake — et  aussi  whiskey — 
trh  boil  pour  vous  " — 

But  at  the  same  instant  he  was  evidently  startled  by  her 
uttering  a  slight  cry — partly  of  delight,  partly  of  entreaty ; 
and  the  next  moment  she  was  pouring  out  the  story  of  her 
wrongs  and  griefs  with  many  piteous  gestures  and  appeals. 

The  schoolmaster  was  quite  bewildered.  She  spoke  so 
rapidly,  so  pathetically,  that  he  did  not  understand  a  single 
word ;  he  could  only  vaguely  gather  from  her  piteous  intona- 
nation,  that  she  had  suffered  injury,  and  was  begging  him  to 
be  kind  to  her. 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  35 

"  Kott  bless  me  !  Kott  bless  me  !  "  he  murmured  to  him- 
self ;  "  it  is  a  terriple  thing  to  understand  a  stranche  langwich. 
The  poor  creature  !  She  will  pay  no  heed  to  the  oat-cake 
and  the  whiskey." 

Then,  to  add  to  his  confusion,  the  farmer  came  up. 

"  Well,  now,  Mr.  Livingston,  and  what  iss  the  matter  about 
the  young  leddy  ?  It  is  the  stranchest  thing  I  ever  heard  of. 
How  wass  she  come  to  Farriskeir  ?  " 

"You  will  see  this,  Dunvorgan,"  *  said  the  schoolmaster, 
"  the  French  langwich  is  not  like  other  'langwiches  ;  when  it 
iss  spoke  slow,  then  effery  one  will  understand  it  that  knows 
it ;  but  when  it  iss  spoke  quick,  then  none  understands  it  at 
ahl.  We  will  get  the  young  leddy  into  the  poat,  and  will  tek 
her  back  home  with  us ;  and  maype  on  the  way  I  will  hev  the 
story  to  tell  you." 

When  the  young  lady  understoo'd  that  she  was  to  go  into 
the  boat,  she  obeyed  willingly  ;  and  when  she  had  taken  her 
seat  in  the  stern,  there  was  handed  to  her  a  rug  made  of  the 
very  finest  sheep's  wool,  that  Archie  Livingston's  mother  had 
sent,  thinking  that  the  boys  might  be  shipwrecked  and  be 
found  on  the  rocks  with  wet  clothes.  But  indeed  the  night 
was  not  cold,  and  she  merely  let  the  rug  lie  across  her  knees. 
She  seemed  to  care  about  nothing  but  having  her  story  under- 
stood by  the  only  one  among  these  friendly  people  who  knew 
a  little  of  French. 

And  when,  at  length  they  had  got  the  boat  afloat  again,  and 
the  mainsail  hoisted,  and  when,  in  the  silence  of  the  night 
they  proceeded  to  make  their  way  back  to  the  mainland  of 
Lewis,  the  schoolmaster  managed  to  hint  to  her  that,  if  she 
would  speak  slowly,  and  say  what  she  had  said  all  over  again, 
he  would  understand  her  better. 

This  intimation  she  seemed  to  comprehend  very  well ;  for 
now  she  began  very  patiently  to  speak  to  him ;  and  she 
instantly  paused  when  he  seemed  not  to  follow  her,  so  that  he 
might  have  time  to  repeat  the  v^^ords  or  to  question  her. 

"  Pless  me,  Dunvorgan,"  said  he,  at  length,  "  but  this  is  the 
stranche  story  ;  and  if  the  two  lads  wass  not  happen  to  be  on 
the  island,  it  would  hev  been  a  murder,  as  sure  as  death. 
Poor  thing!  that  was  to  hev  been  marriet  this  ferry  day. 
We  will  hev  the  sheriff  at  Styornoway  to  inquire  into  this." 

"  And  what  does  she  say,  Mr.  Livingston  ? "  asked  the 
farmer. 

*  The  name  of  the  farm.      These  territorial  designations   are    common    in 

Scotland. 


30  AjV  adventure  IN  THULE. 

"  Well,  you  see,  Dunvorgan,  it  is  not  easy  in  the  dark, 
where  there  iss  no  light  to  write  down  a  word,  to  understand 
such  a  langwich  as  the  French  langwich ;  but  if  I  do  not  rnek 
a  great  mistake,  the  young  leddy  was  stolen  away  from  her 
friends,  and  put  on  board  the  smack  ;  and  little  doubt  hev  I 
that  the  master  of  the  smack  wass  paid  to  mek  away  with  her 
— maype  in  the  night-time,  if  there  was  no  one  seeing. 

"  She  is  from  Morlaix,  that  iss  on  the  coast  of  Brittany  ;  and 
any  one  that  iss  well-read,  and  acquented  with  geography 
and  other  things,  knows  that  the  people  of  Brittany  are  very 
revencheful  people.  But  the  young  leddy  she  wass  making  a 
prayer  to  the  master  of  the  smack;  and  maype  he  wass 
afrait ;  or  maype  he  thought  that  leaving  her  on  an  island 
wass  ass  goot  as  anything  to  put  her  away — ay !  ay !  the 
poor  young  lass  that  wass  to  hef  been  marriet  this  ferry  day 
mirover  !  " 

"  Mr.  Livingston,  some  one  will  hev  to  answer  for  this  ; 
what  do  you  think  now  ?  " 

"That  is  what  I  think.  And  we  will  get  at  the  story 
better  when  we  hef  the  sheriff  from  Styornoway  ;  and  the 
sheriffs  leddy — oh,  she  is  wonderful  goot  at  ahl  langwiches, 
except  the  Gaelic,  and  she  is  not  so  goot  at  the  Gaelic  ;  and 
the  sheriff  will  be  for  taking  the  young  leddy  over  to  Styorno- 
way, no  doubt,  and  putting  her  on  board  of  the  Clansman^ 
and  sending  her  back  to  her  friends.  And  the  goot  heart  of 
her  !     Do  you  know  what  she  has  been  offering  to  me." 

"  How  can  I  know  ? " 

"  She  wass  wanting  me  to  tek  her  gold  rings  and  her  gold 
watch  and  chain,  too ;  and  to  gif  them  to  the  boys  for  their 
kindness.  Do  you  hear  that  now,  Colin,  and  you,  too, 
Archie  ?  But  I  would  not  hef  her  go  away  back  to  France, 
and  be  speaking  to  the  French  people,  and  be  saying  that  the 
Highland  people  would  tek  money  for  a  kindness.  I  would 
not  hef  any  one  say  that." 

"  That  iss  right,  Mr.  Livingston  ;  my  boy  Colin  would  tek 
no  money  for  being  of  help  to  any  one.  And  if  he  would  tek 
money,  then  it  iss  a  stick  I  would  tek  to  his  back,  to  gif  him 
a  little  goot  manners.  But  it  is  a  stranche  thing  that  the 
master  of  the  yacht,  if  he  wass  such  a  scoundrel  as  that,  wass 
not  for  stealing  the  young  leddy's  watch,  and  the  other  things, 
too." 

"  Dunvorgan,"  said  the  schoolmaster,  thoughtfully,  "  I  will 
tell  you  my  opinion  now — that   the  master  of  the  smack  wass 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  27 

afraid  of  what  he  had  done,  and  was  glad  to  get  her  away 
out  of  the  smack  without  thinking  of  anything  else.  ,  And  I 
suppose  he  wass  thinking  that  if  he  left  her  on  Farriskeir,  no 
one  would  effer  see  or  hear  of  her  again — that  she  would  go 
mad  and  drown  herself,  maybe — ay,  ay — and  ferry  likely  that 
would  hef  happened  but  for  the  two  young  lads — it  was  a  very 
stranche  chance." 

,  When  they  reached  the  shore  on  the  other  side,  it  was  close 
on  midnight ;  but  all  the  same  there  were  near  a  dozen  people 
waiting  for  them  ;  and  great  was  the  wonderment  among  the 
folk  when  they  heard  the  strange  news.  And  they  were  civil 
enough  not  to  stare  at  the  young  French  lady  ;  but  they  were 
very  kind  to  her ;  and  she  was  taken  up  to  Dunvorgan  farm, 
where  they  got  some  supper  for  her,  and  some  tea,  and  gave 
her  a  bedroom  all  to  herself — which  is  a  luxury  in  those 
parts.  And  amid  all  this  the  lads  found  occasion  to  have  a 
little  talk  berween  themselves — of  course  in  Gaelic. 

"  There  is  one  good  thing,  Archie,  that  every  one  is  taken 
up  with  the  young  French  lady  ;  and  my  father  has  not  said 
anything  about  the  loss  of  the  boat." 

"  And  I  do  not  think  they  will  say  anything  now,  Colin  ; 
for  three  lives  are  better  than  a  boat." 

"  But  it  is  hard  on  my  father,  Archie,  that  he  should  have 
to  pay  for  another  boat." 

However,  as  it  turned  out,  the  new  boat  was  paid  for  in 
quite  an  unexpected  way.  For  when  the  sheriff  at  Storno- 
way  had  learned  all  this  strange  story,  and  v/hen  he  had 
communicated  with  the  young  lady's  friends  in  Brittany,  there 
was,  of  course,  a  great  commotion ;  and  the  two  lads  had  to 
go  over  to  Stornoway  to  give  evidence  there  before  some 
gentlemen  sent  all  the  way  over  from  France  for  the 
purpose. 

Then  the  young  lady  left  with  these  gentlemen  (though  it 
seemed  as  if  she  would  never  cease  expressing  to  the  two  lads, 
through  the  sheriff,  her  gratitude  to  them),  and  no  one  expected 
to  hear  any  more  of  the  thing,  except  the  sheriff,  who  knew 
better. 

One  day  Colin  McCalmont  and  Archie  Livingston,  with 
their  respective  fathers,  were  summoned  to  go  over  to  Storno- 
way, to  the  sheriff's  office,  and  they  went. 

"  I  have  got  the  reward  now,  for  you  two  boys,"  he  said. 

"What  reward  ?  "  they  both  said,  at  once. 

"  The  reward  that  was  offered  in  the   French  papers  for 


38  A^V  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE. 

information  about  that  young  lady  when  she  was  found  to  be 
missing." 

He  showed  them  an  oblong  piece  of  paper. 

"  It  is  five  thousand  francs  ;  do  you  know  how  much  that 
is?" 

"  I  do  not,"  said  Colin ;  and  the  schoolmaster's  son  looked 
doubtful. 

"  I  suppose  you  can  divide  by  twenty-five,  surely }  "  said  he^ 
good-naturedly. 

"  That  would  come  to  two  hundred  pounds,"  said  the 
younger  lad. 

"  Very  well,  then.  That  piece  of  paper  is  worth  two  hun- 
dred pounds ;  and  that  is  one  hundred  pounds  for  each  of 
you.  If  I  were  you,  I  would  put  it  in  the  savings-bank  ;  and 
when  you  grow  up,  it  would  be  a  fine  thing  for  you." 

"  I  will  not  do  that,  sir,"  said  Colin  McCalmont. 

"  What  then  ?  "— 

"  I  will  buy  a  boat  for  my  father  as  good  as  the  one  that 
was  sunk — ay,  and  better,  too.  And  if  there  is  anything 
over,  that  is  what  I  will  put  into  the  savings-bank." 

"  But  wait  a  minute  my  lad.  This  five  thousand  francs  is 
the  reward  offered  by  Mademoiselle  Desclin's  guardians — for 
she  has  neither  father  nor  mother ;  but  she  wishes  to  add 
something  to  show  that  she  does  not  forget  your  kindness  to 
her.  She  wishes  to  be  allowed  to  give  you  a  boat,  sails  and 
all  complete,  similer  to  the  one  that  was  sunk  ;  only  it  is  to 
be  your  own.  But  that  will  do  for  your  father  as  well  as  for 
yourself." 

"  Surely,surely,"  said  Dunvorgan.  "  Let  the  lad  have  the 
whole  of  the  hundred  pounds  put  in  the  bank  in  his  own 
name.  It  will  be  a  good  thing  for  him  when  he  will  take  a 
farm  for  himself." 

"  And  you,  Archie  Livingston ;  I  am  to  buy  you  a  silver 
watch.  And  if  I  were  you  I  would  sit  down  and  write  the 
young  lady  a  letter  in  very  good  English.  And  there  is  an- 
other thing,  Colin,  my  lad  ;  she  wants,  you  to  have  the  boat 
called  the  Felicite. — for  that  is  her  own  name  :  and  you  can 
have  no  objection  to  that." 

"  Surely  no,  sir ;  and  will  I  write  her  a  letter,  too  ? " 

"  You  could  not  do  better.  And  so  that  is  all  settled.  But 
waite  a  minute,  my  lads  ;  I  think  the  next  time  you  go  out  to 
frighten  the  Frenchmen  from  stealing  the  sheep  at  Farriskeir, 
you'd  better  leave  the  pistol  ashore ;  you  might  get  into  trou- 
ble.    And  perhaps  if  the  Government  were  to  send  the  jackal 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  THULE.  39 

round  that  way  once  or  twice  about  this  time  of  the  year,  that 
would  give  them  a  greater  fright  than  any  horse-pistol." 

So  that  was  the  end  of  the  adventure  ;and  if  you  should 
happen  on  the  west  coast  of  Lewis  to  run  against  a  smart 
little  cutter  called  the  Felicit^^  and  should  wonder  at  the  name; 
they  will  tell  you  the  story  there  about  the  two  boys  who  went 
to  frighten  the  French  fishermsn  away  from  Farriskeir  and 
Ruaveg. 

THE    END. 


\^J4'^ 


%  ?'l« 


k 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Kenewed  books  are  subjea  to  immediate  recall 


3xJan^n4DC" 


fll    I  A^J  ^.f. 


HE 


CTJXD 


APR  2  9 'b4 -5 


SEP     &  1^8/  2  6 


pg^  '" 


)M 


s^p-ir 


07  -Q  ^^^- 


luOAN 


DEFT 


LD  21A-40m-4,'63 
(D6471sl0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  74252 

U„C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


co^sb3l^'^t 


